City of Night and Distant Star
by Alustriel Silverhand
Summary: Sequel to Bloodlust: D is comissioned by Leila and Meier to travel to the City of Night to recover the body of Charlotte. But might D get more than he bargained for when he comes upon an old foe, one that has his own designs for the dhampire?  Complete
1. Scene 1

Scene 1

He took a sip and yet downed not a single drop.

With a skilled penmenship that would befuddle even the trained eye, the dhampire crafted a letter. A glass with some murky unnamed liquid lay on the table before him, brimming at the rim. He'd ordered the drink just to be able to procure a table, since the innkeeper insisted only paying customers could use his tables. When his eyes framed the counteance of the dhampire, however, the man was left sputtering apologies left and right.

D promptly ordered the first drink he saw on the overhead sign, plucked the glass from the man's hand, dropped a coin from his pouch onto the counter and set up residence in a table farthest from any others. Every so often he offered the image of drinking, mostly to pacify the other patrons. Whereever D went, notority followed, and so he gave the illusion of normacly to keep the skittish citizens calm.

"I could have told you that drink tasted like piss."

His hand not halting in the least, nor his head lifting, D muttered, "Leila."

The vampire huntress stood by his table, garbbed in her usual attire of bright red bodysuit, hair far longer than last the dhampire had seen it. Of course, it had been years since last D spoke or seen Leila, even though the woman sent a few letters his way. As was his custom the dhampire generally ignored her communications, responding only when she mentioned a mission.

Thus why she stood before him. "Not even a hello? Or how am I doing? Or good to see me?" She snorted, snatching up his drink. Without so much as a by-your-leave, the woman downed it in a gulp, wiping her chin with with back of her hand. "Yup, still pretty bad."

"Why are you here?" D's voice could have been ice crystals, how emotionless and cold it was. Finally his hand stilled, gazing up at the woman from beneath the shadow of his fedora.

"You know why." Leila made herself comfortable in a chair nearest D, propping her booted feet on the table and crossed her ankles. She waved the innkeeper over, who eagerly came to her side. Maybe he sensed how large her purse was, or perhaps he had no desire to antagonize what appeared to be the dhampire's companion.

"We'll need supplies for a long trip."

"We?" D said, deadpanned.

"We," said Leila said a bit more firmly.

After the innkeeper rushed off, the dhampire turned to Leila, his dark eyes like jewels one held up to the light to let that light reflect off it. Even though the vampire huntress had travelled with the dhampire before and was accustomed to his stunning beauty, even she had swallow to keep from fawning. "I assume this has to do with the memo about a vampire?"

"What else?" she said, laughing. "I can't imagine you doing anything that didn't involve death, blood or some kind of destruction." Was there a hint of sadness in those harsh blue eyes?

And was there a smattering of chuckles coming from the vincity of D's left hand?

D went back to his writing, parrafin-colored skin unmarred by either the sound of sadness or amusement. His long fingers slid the ink on the parchment with his characteristic grace again. "You've come a bit too late. I've been commissioned to slay half dozen vampires holed up in the Port of Nubarol. Your mission will have to wait."

Down came Leila's hand on the table, sending both the inkwell and empty glass tumbling to the floor. Her lovely face flushed with anger the huntress said, "This can't wait! A young woman's life is at stake!"

His dark eyes impassioned, D lifted the inkwell off the floor and set it back up on the table. He would have continued writing had Leila not set her hand down on the paper, pinning it to the table. The two exchanged a look; D's was just barely hinting at annoyance while the huntress seemed on the verge of leaving a red print on the dhampire's face the same shape of her hand.

"You don't care about the life of some young girl?"

His face placid as a lake D said, "Others are in danger as well. I guess you could say it's 'first come, first served'." Another few chortles accompained that, smothered when the dhampire made a fist of his left hand.

"What if I told you your employer would be Meir Link?"

Setting the pen down, D glanced at Leila. There was no lie in her blue eyes. D hadn't heard that name in many a day, the two words evoking the image of the young lord. A vampire who'd resisted the temptation of bloodlusting on a doomed journey to escape persecution from those who despised his bond with a young human woman.

Young human woman..."This young girl you mention...," D's beautiful dark eyes were full upon the huntress now, gauging her reaction. "...wouldn't happen to be Charlotte would it?"

Leila let out a little laugh, and the dhampire knew it to be the same before she even spoke. "Nothing gets past you does it, D?"

"You'd be surprised--" Again, the mysterious voice was silenced when D followed his hands together, steepling them. His wide-brimmed hat dipped down, concealing his eyes. The dhampire appraised the woman, judging whether to believe her, whether this mission, undoubtably very dangerous, was worth it, whether he was getting in over his head.

Because that was the kind of mission D liked best.

"Where is Meir?"

Leila's lips twisted. "At the Castle of Chayte."

More images danced before D's vision. The ghost-castle of Chayte. Carmilla, the vampiress countess, beautiful and deadly in her long crimson gown. Charlotte her face as white as her dress as she lay in a pool of her own blood. Leila herself crying, overcome by all the tragedies. Meir, his counteance crushed by the loss of his beloved, fighting against D to keep her body.

And so he had, as the dhampire delivered the girl's ring to her father and ended the story.

Or so he had thought. Gathering the letter, the dhampire stuffed it in his pocket, reclaimed his sword from where he'd braced it against the wall. As he rose, he was as a shadow expanding, the very defintion of darkness liquified and poured into a person's soul. All within the confined inn took notice, bespelled, as the vampire huntress herself was.

"We leave at dawn."

Then he was gone, out the door as if he'd never been there at all, leaving Leila to stare at the empty glass on the floor.


	2. Scene 2

Scene 2

Like a bloody hand reaching out for the sky, the Castle of Chayte loomed over the quickly darkening skies, forbidden even without the countess's presence. Shadows blackened portions of her parapets, and bats flew up into the moon that shined like a silver coin. The smell of death and decay encompassed every corner of the gate as the two passed over it.

D was astride his cybernetic horse while Leila drove her battle motorcycle neither exchanging much more than what was strictly necessary as they made their way toward the castle. D was hardly a conversationalist and blond-haired woman seemed strangely subdued. While Carmilla was noticably gone, the castle was not without its dangers. But neither needed to draw a weapon as all manner of guardians hung back, obedient in the wake of their new master.

At the huge double doors stood a young vampire, silver hair reflecting the moonlight, attired in a simple but elegant black suit and cape.

Meir Link.

"Welcome to the Castle of Chayte," came the Noble's cultured voice.

Her motorcycle giving a disgruntled sound as she halted it, Leila said, "Welcome? To Castle Chayte? To the remanets of hell is more like it."

The vampire's face shadowed, troubled. "You have not seen hell, I assure you." Then, softly, he added, "...not yet."

D dismounted, casting his gaze about, then those otherwordly eyes settled on Meir. "I understand you are interested in employing me." Nothing else mattered to the dhampire. Though he had felt no dislike for Meir, the man was still a vampire, and for that sake alone the dhampire might have refused except that Leila had asked for his involvement. That said, the vampire hunter insisted on twice his usual asking price and she readily agreed.

When people were willing to pay such a steep price one had to wonder why...

Meir nodded. "Come, inside."

After their transportation was suitably stowed away and Leila and D were refreshed, the three convened in a room, the one D identified as the one Charlotte had been enchanted and drawn in to the mirror. That mirror gave no sign of such power now, as the one who'd wielded was dead. Meir assured them of that. Carmilla, or what was left of her, lay in her coffin, repinned underneath the Sacred Ancestor's sword.

"Who's the vampire?" D was straight to the point, as always.

Normally calm as a perfectly chilled night, Meir squirmed in his chair. "You hadn't told him?" he asked not D but Leila who seemed to catch his discomfort also looking like she'd have like any other question than that. The two exchanged a glance, then the young lord let out a sigh and said, "If I tell you do you promise to stay focused on your job?"

The dhampire barely moved like a statue frozen in time, his mouth the only motion, "I always do."

Had D permitted it, laughter would have issued from his closed fist, but as it was, not even a snort could be heard.

"The Sacred Ancestor."

If it were possible D was even frozen further still, his eyes the only sign of his reaction. Inside the pools of darkness something stirred, something so horrible and so powerful that Leila gasped. Hunger. Hatred. D had never so much as spoken about his family or origins to the woman, even as she was surrendering her own history. For the tragedies she had suffered somehow Leila realized that the dhampire suffered tenfold.

And family tragedies were the worst she well knew.

"Where is he?" The voice sounded as if he inquired about the weather or some other mundane matter. And it was all the more frightening because of those eyes that betrayed the deadly emotion in those words.

Meir sat back, lips pressed in a hard line. "The City of Night."

"Then we head there at once." There was no brokering an argument with that steely voice.

With a nod, Meir said, "Certainly we leave soon as possible, but I must first explain my position and you must stay on course to achieve it, as you have so given your word." The lord too seemed to sense the storm circling in the dhampire's blood and had no wish to have it stand in the way of the mission. "We need to retrieve Charlotte's body from him."

"Body?" Leila swirled in her chair to face the vampire fully, her curtain of golden hair flew in front of her face. She pushed it back irritably. "She's dead? You told me she still lived!"

"It's...terribly complicated."

"Isn't everything all the time?" she muttered, arms crossed.

"She's changed, isn't she?" D spoke coldly, his words a statement not a question.

That something terrible and dark in the dhampire's gaze disturbed even Meir. The lord swirled a glass of wine absently. "I don't know the particulars. But what I do know is that the Sacred Ancestor made off with her body that I had encased in a glass coffin and has been...experimenting on her." Now the silver brows knit together, angered. "And our ancestor or not, I will not allow anyone to touch my dear Charlotte."

Standing, his presence emanated like a blanket of shadows, D said, "Then we should leave immediately."

Meir shook his head. "The Charlotte--the starship I've used--isn't ready for launch just yet. Go rest for a few hours and I'll notify you both when we're ready to depart." Rising, the young lord glanced at them both. His own eyes beheld great pain concealed behind a nobleman's poise. Leila wondered if to carry a Noble's blood was to always have a life in suffering and shadows.

She shivered then looked up.

Of course D was already gone, like the night evaporating into dawn's first pre-light.

"I hate it when he does that," she grumbled.


	3. Scene 3

Scene 3

"We're not really gonna fly in this thing, are we?"

The three of them stood before the starship "The Charlotte". Barely more than a bucket of bolts, D conceded that Leila doubts had merit. Clearly the starship had seen better days, days that didn't include the current welding of patch-work metal all along its starboard side, and a ring of nails embedded on the port to prevent what was once a door from clanging loudly to the floor.

"It's the only way to get to the City of Night," murmured Meier, staring up at the ship like it was his lover. "And I must get Charlotte back."

The young lord extended an arm at the length of which was a remote control. A hatch opened, lowering slowly to the landing the three stood on. D himself didn't wait for it to completely drop before leaping within, leaving an after-image of his form like a shimmering mirror. Leila gave a low whistle, though the dhampire knew naught why and cared even less.

Inside was a reflection of the outside. Everything was a sad state of disrepair. Cables hung like dead snakes, curled around electronic devices and consoles. Sparks darted over the dhampire's head, though not one dared touch him. Behind him D heard the sounds of the vampire lord and the human woman following. He halted a moment to haul the glove off his left hand.

"Is the vehicle safe to fly?"

"You're insufferable!" growled a discordant voice emanting from his palm. "Hiding me away while you're galvanting on some ridiculous adventure and taking me out only when it suits you!" A face appeared on that palm, one that was much displeased. "Maybe I don't want to come out, ever think of that?"

"No." Not a tinge of emotion coloring the words.

"D." It was Meier, his voice slightly vexed. "The ship is safe."

Turning around, the dhampire faced Meier and Leila. The former sat on the stump of a console like it was a royal throne while the latter leaned up against the wall. D's gaze swept them, dispassioned. "I'll let the symbiot be the judge of that." And so saying, the dhampire lifted his bare hand and placed it upon a cable.

The vampire lord gave an annoyed snort while Leftie went about his business, examing the structural integerity in a way only the symbiot could. He stayed silent for several moments then grunted and said, "She's damaged but should make the journey." Twisting as much as he could in his physically impaired state to face the vampire lord, the symbiot added, "I'd look into having a good ship mechanic give her a one over though, if I were you."

"Noted," Meier said tersely.

"Are we going or what?" Leila pushed off from the wall. "I want to collect on my promised fortune as soon as possible." Yet even as the young woman said that, her eyes floated to D's statueseque form, enchanted. She shook her head angrily as if to shake the stunning sight of him right out of her mind.

With Leftie protesting heartily D pulled the glove over his hand and addressed the two, "We can go." Then he departed the room, heading for an turbo lift.

A slender finger tapped the button and the doors slid open to admit the dhampire, emitting a low beep. He stepped within but before the doors could close a hand jutted in. The sensors still functioned it appeared, for the doors automatically retracted allowing another to enter. That other was Leila.

"Mind a companion for a while?" the vampire huntress murmured.

D's gaze focused on the digital numbers as they flashed, indicating the different floors. He had no intention on waiting out the trip peacefully; rather the dhampire would explore every crevice of this ship to determine all of its weak spots, treat them sufficiently and famaliarize himself with all the mechanics of 'the Charlotte'.

Somewhere in his distant memory the dhampire knew he'd seen a ship like this before.

"You don't say much, do you?"

As if to emphasis her point, the dhampire remained silent even as he selected a floor seemingly at random and slipped out the elevator, Leila was close behind. Here was the engine room, harboring an enormous energy core. The light that flashed in the glass containment was too bright to view in the center, and one who dared would be blinded instantly. Leila shielded her eyes while D merely kept his gaze elsewhere, his fingers tapping panel after panel. His step was as graceful as a shadow, yet his presence was much more keenly felt.

"You think you're too good to talk with someone like me, hm?" she taunted, longing to draw out a response, any response. Leila didn't know why it mattered to her that he reply, yet somehow the vampire huntress felt compelled to shatter the wintry shroud around the dhampire. "Too good-looking perhaps...or too clever? Maybe you're just faster with a sword."

"You should go back to your mother."

Was that some kind of joke?

"Don't you dare," she hissed. "I told you what happened to her!" She laid a hand on his shoulder, determined to turn him around to face her. Leila didn't think of how powerful or deadly this man was, enfuriated by his callous comment. What had he suffered so great that he felt that he could pluck the emotional wings off a person without so much as wincing as he did so?

As her fingers first came in contact with the dhampire's cape, D spun around. In a single fluid movement the dhampire pinned the vampire huntress against the console he'd just been tinkering with, his arm pressed against her neck. He could easily snap her in two. Humans were ever ignorant of the power that lay dormant in the dhampire, and even more ignorant they were of the very tiny thread of humanity that kept him from crossing the threshold of violence.

"I told you that if you came at me I'd kill you." There was not a hint of malice in D's voice, but the sincerity of it sent liquid ice up Leila's spine.

"Are you...going to?" she asked, surprisingly calm.

D relaxed, releasing her. "Go." His chin jutted towards the turbo lift. "Now."

"D..." the young woman's voice was so very small, sympathetic. "What happened that...?" Leila seemed to think better of what she was going to say and instead uttered, "You could talk to me, you know."

His eyes narrowed like the edge of a sword just as it was about to strike.

Sighing, Leila straightened off the console, flashed him one last look of concern then entered the turbo lift. Up and up she went, her mind very much elsewhere. Leila knew that the pain within the dhampire dug deep, rooted into his very soul, but something flashed in his eyes the moment she touched him that spoke of volumes of horror.

Meanwhile D braced against the console for a moment. Then, face as blank as an untouched parchment, the dhampire resumed his work on the engine.


	4. Scene 4

Scene 4

His fedora covering the entirety of his face as he leaned up against a broken console, D remained silent for a few hours. If he was sleeping none could tell, since he didn't break that silence with a snore or even breathing. In fact, one could assume him dead, except for the slight twitch of his muscles from what could be REM sleep.

What, if anything, did the handsome half-breed dream about?

This did Leila wonder as she stood before him for a moment, staring at his slender yet muscled form. His impossibly length-ed sword braced up against a wall like as a if silent sentinel to ward away the ill-minded from the dhampire. In this nonthreatening stance D almost seemed vulnerable, emotional, child-like.

"What is it?" came a smooth voice from beneath that hat.

Leila frowned, annoyed at he apparently was awake and probably for at least the length of time she'd been standing there. That, and his never-ending curt manner.

"We're almost at the City of the Night."

With a single fluid movement so fast she barely registered it, the dhampire slid the hat up to his head, donned the sword and came up to his feet. Without so much as a muttered word, the dhampire strolled over to the turbolift, leaving the young woman to hurry after him.

Ice made more sound than he, and had more warmth, Leila mused, as they rode it all the way up to the bridge.

Arriving at the bridge, D stood up to the main viewing screen, dark eyes encapsulating the enormous crystalline structure floating in space. Like a huge tree made of a silver-colored metals and adamanite core the edifice drifted ever so slightly, much like the floating cities the dhampire had seen a thousand years ago. It was armed with nuclear weapons and photo-cannons such that even the Capitol of Earth could be envious of.

"A spacestation?" uttered a voice from his closed fist. "I can't believe it's real!"

Meier sat on a command chair looking every bit as regal as a prince. A single hand held his head aloft, as if the young lord would descend into an ecstatic delirium. "Welcome to the City of the Night."

"That must have cost a few billion dalas," Leila said.

"Few trillion I'd wager," countered the vampire lord. He straightened, white hair bright against the artificial light of the spaceship. "We'll dock in twenty minutes." Then he stood, started to pace then checked himself. "Once we arrive in the shipyard, we can head over to my mansion and meet with Millie, my maidservant. I want to review my messages and see if there's been any report on Charlotte."

There was a slight tremor in the starship, which caused Leila to grip her chair a bit more tightly, golden hair swishing about her. "Are you sure we're good to land?"

Something twitched in D's palm and he relented, stripping off the glove. Appearing swiftly Leftie seemed alarmed. "D, I don't think this ship can a handle the landing. I can feel the cracks in the hull through the energy currents. We should grab an escape pod and get to the station that way."

The dhampire nodded and said to the others, deadpanned. "We should park the ship here and leave in a pod."

His eyes dark with anger, Meier snapped, "I'm not about to listen to a voice in your hand over the readings of the sensors."

Suddenly the ship listed to her side, letting out a miserable groan. Leila stumbled out of her chair while the vampire lord himself had to hold tight to the chair's arm. D himself remained perfectly still, eyes like the deepness of a river's depth. Then the Charlotte shook again, this time much more violently. Cables fell from above, narrowingly missing the young woman's head.

"I think the face-hand's right!" snarled Leila. "The ship will tear itself apart."

"The what...?" demanded Leftie, but D made a fist.

"She'll hold!"

"Brace yourselves," coldly said the dhampire as even himself gripped a console.

The ship went into a tailspin, dipping down then twirling up. Alarm lights and warning signs blared across the screens and panels, indicating an imminent crash. More cables showered them, along with multi-colored sparks, one landing on D's cape. It sputtered for a second then burnt out, leaving a waft of smoke in the air.

At this point both the young woman and the vampire lord were on the floor, spilled like discarded dolls. Leila looked dazed with a cut to her head sending blood into her eye and down her cheek while Meier fared better as the only injury was to his pride. His eyes flashed at seeing her blood, entranced, but he shook it away as D came over.

"We must...get to the...escape pods," she muttered, half-lucid. In her stupefied state the dhampire was more beautiful than normal, like some dark angel come to take her from this world.

D didn't respond. He braced her against a console, using a cable to pin her in place. After giving the vampire lord a glance to be sure he was similarly secure, the dhampire stepped over to the main control panel. Even as sparks, cables and shattered metal spun around him as the ship continued to spin towards its destruction the dhampire remained calm, only occasionally using a hand to keep his step steady.

"D, what are you doing?" Leila yelled.

"Steering the ship. Don't move."

Meier's eyes widened. "Have you ever flown a spaceship before?"

"No. Remain where you are." The moment his hands rested up on the panel D's eyes shut. Flying the ship through manual controls could only steer it so far, the dhampire realized. He'd never stepped foot in a spaceship before, in fact had only read about them at the Capitol and had only seen them at Castle Chayte, yet the dhampire knew this as easily as the tongue knew the inside of his mouth.

Or as easily as the symbiont knew the palm of his hand.

"D," said that symbiont, "What's going on in that crazy head of yours? Even I don't know how to fly a spaceship!" If a face in a hand could express fear, this one was accomplishing it. "You're gonna get us all killed!"

"Be quiet."

The Charlotte twisted to her right, spinning suddenly over and over. Meier and Leila cried out in fear. The very floor started to tear apart, leaving gaps in the structural integrity. Metal flew up, smashing into the ceiling. Banking low to her side then sweeping up the spaceship seemed entirely directionless except for the one certainty...

"We're going to crash into the City of the Night!" gasped Meier.

As a pillar D remained motionless except his eyes. They constantly twitched, as if he were in the throes of the dreamworld again. As the ship dipped to the left his right eye squinted and she leveled out. Then the Charlotte took a spill to her right and his left eye squinted, which seemed to correct the trajectory of the ship. Frown-lines creased his marble-like face, yet the dhampire didn't shy away or cringe at what Leila could only assume was intense energy flowing through his body.

When his eyes snapped open, the vampire huntress knew it for truth. His eyes crackled with energy so powerful his irises verily glowed. A bolt of electricity burst up from the console he clasped, wrapping around his body. At this point D jerked, his back arched, his eyes burning a bright crimson such that Leila could almost feel his pain and shock.

His lips twitched. "Hold...on."

"D, stop!" cried Leila.

His eyes narrowed like the tilt of a coin and D growled. As if in a battle with the dhampire, the Charlotte emitted a loud boom, sending the ship careening straight for the City of the Night. Pieces of the aft wing fell apart, swirling into space. More of the hull gave way, metal issuing a screech as it was set free.

They were few hundred feet from the City of the Night when the watch tower of the city sent out a warning shot. Whatever verbal warnings they'd sent out had clearly not been properly conveyed by the sensors, since none of the three had even heard it. The blast clipped their starboard wing and this time nothing could direct the flow.

And yet The Charlotte remained on course for the city.

"We must escape!" screamed Meier.

"Hold...on," was all that D uttered. Then the dhampire hurried off from the console, leaving the young woman and vampire lord yelling after him. He didn't wait for the turbolift to arrive at the elevator shaft. His black cape expanding like the wings of a mystic bird the dhampire leapt from the top, gliding all the way down. When the turbolift reached him, D bounced off the top to land in the engine room.

Inside the energy core had shattered, energy made a hell of the engine room. Flames gushed throughout the room, happily destroying everything within reach. D himself strode through the flames, as if invincible. Smoke again darted along his cape and hat, but the dhampire minded it not all, his destination the energy core.

He tapped a panel, one of the only two that still functioned. "When I give the word, initiate the landing gear."

Meier's face flashed across the screen, ashen even for the undead. "What are you going to do?"

The screen vanished before D could answer, not that he would have anyways. As long as the intercom still functioned, and the dhampire could tell that it did, that's all that mattered. He stood before the energy core with all the electricity spilling around him. About a hundred thousand volts blasted around in the broken containment, enough to devastate a whole city.

And into it D walked.

"Now."

Meier tapped the button.

The Charlotte twisted for a few moments, then straightened out, expelling a gush of smoke. Then her landing gear went to work, the steadying feet slipping out. As the ship came down on the landing strip, her aft wing came off entirely, bursting into flames. She skidded for several long moments, eliciting a long scream from Leila.

Finally the ship came a complete stop, about dozen feet from the watch tower.

When Leila and Meier disengaged themselves from the scattered debris they rushed down to the engine room. The flames had dissipated, though the smoke floated high enough to force both vampire lord and vampire huntress to tread lightly. Out from the smoke came a tall figure, his own form wreathed in smoke.

D.

Leftie was uttering, "I swear you're the nuttiest, craziest son of a--"

Then D promptly fell face down, hat tumbling off his head.


	5. Scene 5

Scene 5

Water flowed around him, steam misting up to the ceiling. Most people who are embraced by the warmth and softness of water like to descend into it until they are almost entirely immersed. But the dhampire sat on the under-water bench, his eyes gazing seemingly uninterested at the mosaic at the ceiling, that of a vampire lord and his young human bride. Steam nearly obscured the image, giving it an ethereal quality.

Such was life at the City of the Night.

D had been afforded a brief glismpe of the city as he was chartered around on a floating cot, Leila and Meier at his side, the human woman holding his cold hand. The city was stunning, a lattice of catacombs, water-ways and corridors, punctuated by gorgeous tapestries, enormous mettalic trees rising to space and the faces of ivory with lips of red. Vampires.

And what was even more stunning was the humans standing side by side with the vampires.

In and out D faded, his body ravaged by the bolts, yet healing at a startling rate. He didn't encourage Leila to watch over him, face framed by sun-shaded hair in her worry, but nor did the dhampire remove his hand from her grasp. In a way, the dhampire knew it was more for her than for him, as she was overwhelmed at he'd done.

Certainly Leftie hadn't complained since it was his left hand the woman held.

After resting in the cot for a bit, D had spoken with a maidservant who'd introduced herself as Millie. She directed him to the communal bath, taking his clothes (and not blinking the whole time he disrobed) and explaining that she'd have them cleaned and pressed by the time he'd finished. D grunted appreciatively and sat in the empty pool, his mind as scattered as the mist.

Here in this city was the Sacred Ancestor, King of Vampires.

A voice floated up from beneath the water. "So when you find Him...what are you going to do?"

D's eyes flashed. A silverly line of death appeared in his mind, echoed by a splatter of blood.

"You're cold," the voice continued. Was there a hint of fear and shock in those words? "You'd kill him...your own--"

"Quiet."

There was a snort, which sent up a bubble to the surface. "You think you can even do it? Do you have any idea how powerful he is? After all, he made you. He said it 'You were my only success'...do you really think he'd make you stronger than himself?"

D did not answer, his thoughts on the very same thing. The dhampire had survived what would fell an entire city and had several times before. His sword cut a line no human could follow and few vampires could. His strength sliced through mountains, his intellect could solve puzzles that even the greatest scholars at the Capitol could only dream of.

And yet he was only an experimental project of the Sacred Ancestor. Likely the King of Vampires retained the mightest of his power and strength for himself. The path D walked could only end in his death.

"Didn't dhampires suffer in water?" It was Leila, herself attired in only a gray robe, head tilted knowingly. "I can't even imagine you'd find it easy to bear."

Again the dhampire remained silent. Leila frowned then threw off her robe, without a tinge of embarrassment. Dipping her toes in to test the heat, the woman finally leapt into the pool, sending up a shower of water. When at last Leila finished swimming she sat up on the bench with D, near enough to be in earshot, but far enough to be at a distance not to be enveloped by his eerie aura.

"You're no ordinary dhampire."

Still no response. She changed her tactic. "I think I know why you're chasing after the Sacred Ancestor."

D looked at her mildly, dark hair spilling over his shoulders, bereft of the hat.

"You're related."

Even the dhampire couldn't supress the flicker of emotion in his eyes at that comment.

Resting her elbows on the rim of the pool, the vampire huntress's nipples dipped over the surface of the pool. She threw him a coy look which the dhampire seemed immune to. "Oh, what? You don't like talking about your family?" She snorted, glancing out over the pool. "Tough luck, you dragged it out me, so I have the right to drag it out of you."

"What did your brothers do to you?"

Gasping, Leila's head spun so swiftly to face the dhampire she swore she'd get whiplash. D stared at her, face unreadable. How he'd deduced something so personal, so private, so painful the young woman couldn't begin to guess. But it wasn't something she invited, glaring at him so much that if her eyes were daggers he'd a hole the size of one in his heart.

"What?" D said, his voice almost tinted with mirth. "You can ask about my history, but your's is off-limits now?"

Leila growled. "You're deflecting the conversation."

"You haven't answered my question."

"If I answer yours will you answer one of mine?"

D just made a throaty sound which neither refused nor conceded. Letting out an annoyed breath, Leila's gaze returned to the water. Flowers floated on the waves, sometimes sinking, sometimes lifted up with the rush of the mist. A single statue stood in the middle of the pool, that of a young woman craddling a young child. It reminded Leila of her mother who use to rock her to sleep.

Oh to be young and innocent again!

Glancing at the very still dhampire she wondered if D could even claim that simple tranquilty ever in his life.

Her eyes closed. "One of them raped me when I was a child."

D had not made a sound.

"He did it a few times over the years but gave up when I threatened to kill him." Her eyes had not opened, yet the young woman sensed that the dhampire was watching her closely. "Every so often he'd make comments about it, but it eventually tapered off." Now those eyes opened, and she noticed that she was right; D was observing her.

Then she snorted. "Big deal, right? You've probably heard that story a hundred times before."

"That must have been terrible for you."

To even think that the dhampire so much as cared about her emotional state even in the most off-handed way made Leila start. She had hardened her heart after those incidents, closing off all the suitors that would try for her hand. Even after the adventure at the Castle of Chayte the woman had been unable to smother the burning hatred she had of others, which had poisoned the one opportunity she'd had a year ago.

"Yeah, well, that's a long time ago."

There was no comment from D on that. He kept on staring at her.

"So, well, cough it up now." Leila was extremely grateful to change the subject. D had been more sensitive than she'd expected but she also knew that his ability or desire for empathy could go only so far, and the human woman didn't want to chance how it would hurt her when that empathy froze solid. "Why are you after your old man?"

"I'm going to find Meier. I want to investigate something."

D rose from water, donning a robe then picking up his sword. Behind him Leila was gasping, shocked, infruiated. "What about our deal? You said if I talked you would talk. Now spit it out, I haven't got all day!"

"I'll probably be away for a few hours, maybe days. Don't leave Meier's mansion."

"I'll do whatever I damn well want to!" she snapped, leaving the pool swiftly and throwing on her own robe. Her hand twitched, longing to slap the dhampire something fierce. She felt tricked, beguiled, duped. And for what? So he could laugh at her misery? So he could digest her personal piece of hell into that hard rock he called a heart?

"You...bastard!" she snarled. She expected to see mirth in those eyes, maybe a little victory at hauling that out of her.

But when Leila looked into his dark eyes something lurked there and she swallowed down all her anger. He wasn't ready to speak about his history and family; maybe the dhampire never would be. But D had sensed that the woman was bursting with pain, and needed someone to express it to, since none had ever even showed the hint of...what? Concern? He'd overcome his natural instinct to flee when emotions floated around, long enough to provide sounding board for her painful memories.

"You are right," D said simply, voice devoid of emotion.

What he meant he never said, but merely slipped out the room.


	6. Scene 6

Scene 6

As D walked the streets of the City of the Night he garnered a number of stares: fear, reverence and lust, always lust. He was as the city itself; cold, beautiful, deadly. The last adjective being one that the dhampire divined almost immediately upon arriving. He didn't need Leftie to tell him that something terribly wrong was with the city.

Where his father went, death usually followed.

Vampires and humans alike tread the city, adorned in voluminous robes, capes and gowns. The edifices were marble, stone and other metals the dhampire didn't immediately identify. Enormous trees rose a hundred feet up on which a number of multi-colored birds perched. Other animals rushed around, chased happily by human and vampire offspring.

"Paradise, eh?" Leftie chuckled from underneath D's glove. "You think they know?"

"They don't want to know."

"How much longer do you think they have?" This time the symbiont was somber, a rarity for the commonly wise-cracking countenanced carbuncle.

"As long as he wills it." Then the dhampire closed his fist, cutting off whatever discourse the symbiont thought to give. He had reached his destination anyways, that of a barred up building. Tilting his head, D appraised the edifice, shadow falling on his face from his hat. It had long since been abandoned, boards nailed over the windows and a number of debris in what probably was once a lush garden.

Bounding over the rusted metal gate, the dhampire landed lightly in the garden and made his way to the building. With a single hand he pushed the door in, entering with a hand angled up for his sword. But the building was empty. Dust covered all the furniture, much of which was broken. After briefly reviewing the main foyer, D descended to the basement.

Much as the rest of the building this large room contained more misshapen furniture and large amounts of dust. Something about the dust seemed unnatural and D slipped off his glove to let the symbiont run a tongue over it. After initially appearing to enjoy the taste Leftie gagged most heartily and demanded to be pulled away.

"That stuff's nasty!"

"What's the composition of the dust?"

"What's the composition of...! How about asking me if I'm alright?" complained the symbiont.

"It's not natural," D went on, entirely ignoring the carbuncle as he circled the room, dark eyes scanning every nook and cranny.

"I could have told you that. There's definitely something synthetic about it. Like someone made all this look abandoned to keep people out."

Something in the far corner seemed off to the dhampire. Stepping over to it with footsteps that made less sound than the sunlight shining through the broken window, D quickly examined it. This part of the floor felt less structurally sound than the rest. Cutting into the floor with his dagger the dhampire uncovered a panel and he flipped up.

Down was a set of steps and beyond, something glowed.

"I don't like the looks of this, D..." Leftie muttered, in answer of which D sported his glove again, silencing the protests.

Down the steps D descended, his way lightened by the unnatural gleam. When he reached the bottom, his boots met something wet and sticky. The dhampire peered down and even his stoic demeanor cracked a little to see himself immersed in a liquid that glowed a revolting green. That liquid had climbed up to his knees. A pungent smell floated up to his nostrils and even the very gleam stung his dark eyes.

"This is His work..." D said softly. His hand contorted. Clearly Leftie had more to say. Opening his hand, the dhampire let his symbiont speak.

"This is the stuff we sensed when we came after our oh-so-soft landing." Leftie was silent a moment, then added, "So Paradise City is really sitting on poison, is it?"

"Quiet."

D didn't just want the symbiont silent so as to be rid of his constant chatter; the dhampire sensed something move in the muck. It seemed humanoid and yet not entirely so, as its appendages flailed about in a half-hazard manner totally not benefiting anything properly skeletal. As it approached it stumbled into the liquid, then rose, then stumbled again. When it came within viewing distance, D could see the horns, spikes and talons all along its body.

"Wow, that thing's so ugly even a mother couldn't bear to look at it!" exclaimed Leftie.

Even as the "thing" drew nearer D didn't arm himself, instead calmly asking, "Who made you this way?"

For an answer the creature leapt at the dhampire, all manner of bodily weapons bared. Allowing the creature to come within striking distance, D suddenly flew into action. You couldn't see him draw his sword and yet it was in his hand all the same. Neither could you see the blade as it slashed a deep line across the creature's chest, tearing it in half, which each half falling in opposite piles.

"You know D it is easier to get answers when it's not dead."

There was no response as the dhampire lifted up the body, hefted it over a shoulder and ascended the steps. While he strode the beautiful city streets vampires and humans gasped, stunned, horrified, as the creature left a trail of gooey blood and other liquids behind the dhampire. It was a strange contrast between the unspeakably radiant vampire hunter and the unspeakably terrifying creature he carried.

Not such an unlikely comparison for the City of the Night itself.


	7. Scene 7

Scene 7

As the dhampire strode into Meier's mansion carrying the bloodied body of what he only termed "creature" he incited quite the stir. Manservants gapped while a maidservant fainted. Humans they were, and while accustomed to strange sights in the household of a Noble, none had seen such a horrifying mangled body. However D had managed it, he'd tied the pieces together which made it only more unpleasant to witness.

Leaving a trail of purple blood as he ascended a set of stairs, D reached his destination--Meier's main foyer, where he'd found the vampire before. Inside was only a single maidservant whose eyes widened at the sight but retained her composure. When he asked where the lord of the household had gone off to, she directed him to Meier's bedroom.

Inside was Meier but also Leila who had flopped onto a chair, booted feet planted on Meier's writing table. The Noble didn't seem to mind, his eyes glued to a letter in his hand. The vampire huntress glanced up and gave him a lazy smile as the dhampire entered, but the vampire lord ignored him completely.

"What the hell is that?" Leila said as he dropped the body unceremiously onto the floor.

"Dinner," quipped Leftie but D cut off whatever else he mineded to say by tightening a fist. In the symbiont's place he replied, deadpanned, "I found this in an abandoned warehouse amid some poisonous liquid."

Now Meier did look up, his lips parted. "Who could have done such a thing?"

D didn't answer, instead asking, "Who wrote you and why?"

The Noble glanced down at the letter in his hand then back up at the dhampire. Then stepped over to D, passing it to him. D took it without a word. "Not me. He wrote to you."

"It's from the Sacred Ancestor," came Leila's slightly amused voice, gauging D's reaction most acutely. "Your old man wants to see you."

Scanning the immaculately written letter, D remained extremely calm. But the vampire huntress could see how his eyes narrowed ever so slightly again, how his mouth twisted lightly, how even his breathing deepened. He was fighting something deep within his soul. His Noble side? His burning hatred for his father?

"We leave at once," was all the dhampire said before he set the paper down on the table and started for the door.

"Wait." Meier's hand came up and D halted. "First of all we need to discuss the matter of that hideous pile of guts you've left on the carpet I got imported from the Capitol at great cost...but more importantly you will not be leaving for the Sacred Ancestor alone." Letting out a deep breath, he added, "I will accompany you."

"I go alone."

His silver-shaded hair glowed even more in the approaching dusk as the Noble shook his head, "I refuse to let go of an opportunity to retrieve Charlotte no matter what your personal matters are. We will go together."

"All three of us." Now Leila was on her feet, head tilted smugly. "You'll need our help anyways."

"Oooooh, I knew that one had spunk!" Leftie was saying before D once again shut him up with a closed fist. Leila snorted at the countenanced carbuncle's dismay at being silenced.

"He is the one who manufactured that creature," D said while pointing at the body on the floor. It seeped out more purple blood. "Your City of the Night is rotting at the core. He gave you paradise but it was built on the foundation of hell. Your city will die, and soon."

That seemed to shake Meier. He twitched, lips twisting. Leila could easily see why. Charlotte and Meier had endured persecution from Nobles and humans to find a place they could reach that would accept their forbidden love. The City of Night appeared such a solace, a home humans and vampires lived together in peace. A place where their love could flourish not only not attacked repeatedily, but actually celeberated.

Then Charlotte had perished. Meier's world froze solid, yet the vampire continued on, taking her body to this safe haven. Leila had heard that he'd managed to be in communication with her still, yet the Noble hadn't explained how when he contacted her in an effort to reach D.

"And he knew I was coming here, else why send the missive as soon as I arrived?"

Meier responded calmly to what was an undercurrent of an accusation in the dhampire's voice, "Not knew you were coming here, but knew when you arrived. You're not a man that escapes notice, D, especially to one who's sought you for so long."

"Looks like you're not the only one eager for a 'family reunion'," snorted Leftie.

Leila looked from dhampire to vampire and back again. Both men had ample reason to want to track down the Sacred Ancestor. One to bring back the love of his life; the other for hatred that burned in his soul. Her? The money which was certainly nothing to laugh at, yet facing against the Vampire King? If she escaped with her life the woman would be quite fortune indeed.

Her eyes appraised D. There was definitely more than the money...

"We leave in an hour then," D said, again his voice leaving no room for argument. With that he made his exit, hurrying down the steps, heading for downstairs to the room he'd been assigned to. The liquid left a miserable smell on his clothes and he would need to clean his blade properly too. And while he did all this, the dhampire's face remained as still as a pool on the quietest of days.

Just as D was stripping out of his clothes, there came a knock on the door. The dhampire gave a grunting acknowledgement and Leila entered. In his disrobed state he made the young blonde woman gasp, but D didn't care, redressing unhurriedly. With a white cloth he soaked up the blood from his blade, seemingly completely oblvious to Leila's presence.

"D?"

"Yes?" was all he said, still immersed in the task.

"I'm still here to talk to."

"I know."

When several minutes passed with nothing more, Leila snarled, "What? That's it? I'm trying to be nice, you know. So save this stony-face act for some damsel in distress and let it out."

No answer. The sword made a magical sound as it clicked into its sheath at his back. D strode over to the door, but Leila stood before it, jaw set in determination.

"Move."

"No." Leila stretched out her arms to make herself even more of an obstacle. "You need to let it out, D. Like you let me let it out. Get the crap off your chest. I know it's gotta kill you to be hours away from facing your old man. I'm here for you, so take advantage of my good mood and talk to me."

After a few moments of neither making a move, the human huntress decided to throw caution to the wind and embrace the dhampire. Perhaps an emotional reaction required a human touch. His body was rock-hard, yet soft to the touch. Cool, too, like the feeling of sitting too near a chunk of ice. Because D didn't push her away, Leila pushed her luck and started to stroke his back, murmuring, "D, I know this hurts, but you'll feel better when you talk about it. Trust me."

Then D sprung into action, shoving the woman back and drawing his sword. For a horrifying moment Leila feared he'd run her through for daring to invade his personal space. And indeed his sword swung at her at an angle that sliced a flesh wound, sending a string of blood onto the floor. D's eyes flashed crimson for a moment and when he spoke it was not tepid nor calm, but rather the Noble nature coming out.

"I told you if you came at me again I'd cut you down." He sheathed the sword. "Don't press your luck."

And once again he was gone, leaving Leila's face red with rage and completely helpless to do anything about it.


	8. Scene 8

Scene 8

The sounds of the engine and the hooves on the pavement were loud in the evening air. D and Meier both rode on their cybernetic horses (D's was the one he brought aboard the Charlotte while the vampire lord picked up one at the local shop) while Leila cruised the road in her battle motorcycle. There was very little exchange among them, each keenly feeling how much danger they were running towards.

When at last they came upon the castle, the three stopped. The drawbridge had not lowered and a burst of annoyance came over Leila. If the Sacred Ancestor welcomed them, then why was the drawbridge up? But then she glanced over at D, whose dark eyes intensified as his gloved hand slipped out a blue pendant from his collar.

Tilting the jewel ever so slightly, the dhampire caught the moonlight on it sending it reflecting towards the castle. With a great groan the drawbridge came down and a robotic voice could be heard in the air.

"Welcome home, D, Son of the Sacred Ancestor."

Twisting in the saddle Meier appraised the beautiful young man in wonderment, his cultured voice tipping in shock. "So it is true! You are our Lord's offspring." Though Leila had filled the vampire lord in on D's parentage clearly Meier had not entirely believed it. Here, now, he had no choice but to concede it, still staring at D as the dhampire urged his mount forward.

Not waiting for the others the dhampire sent his horse galloping over the drawbridge. The others hurriedly followed him. Soon they reached a courtyard which strangely teemed with life, even more so than the rest of the spacestation. Exotic birds flew overhead, leaving splashes of color in the trees. Fountains poured crystalline waters while pillars held up canopies of bright multi-colored fabric.

Certainly this wasn't the dark, dusty castle Leila expected.

There were no humanoid creatures in the courtyard. D kept his steed on full speed towards the gates of the great fortress when a swarm of darkness and wind appeared on the marble steps. Leila and Meier similarly halted their modes of transportation, surprised that the dhampire's horse reared with his inhuman, powerful touch. Indeed it took several seconds for D to master his steed, eventually bringing its four feet to the ground.

Coldness emanated from the swarm of darkness, with the black energy whipping around like a cyclone. D could feel Leftie struggling most heartily to free his face from being wrapped around the reins, but the dhampire held him back, determined not to hear whatever the symbiont had to say. How many centuries had passed littered with the countenanced carbuncle's jibs about D facing his father?

D didn't know and didn't relish what new tid-bit of 'wisdom' the symbiont had for him with who stood before them now.

"D, it's been a long time."

The only answer was the wind.

That voice continued addressing Meier now. "Welcome, Meier Link. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting."

A shadow flew over Meier's gaze. "No, we haven't. I've heard you know the whereabouts of Charlotte's body. Possibly that she's even here."

There was a twitter of laughter. "Indeed, she is here. Alive."

All the color left the vampire lord's face making him appear entirely lifeless, which was impressive since he had so little color to start with. His hand verily shook as he lifted it. "Where is she?!"

"Within. You'll see her soon enough."

Leila sensed the swirling of darkness appraised her now, and it was to her this time it spoke. "You I do not know. Leave here, you are not welcome."

Bristling, the vampire huntress twisted a hand around the arm-bar, revving up the motorcycle. "I ain't gonna go anywhere til I get the money I was promised."

But at that point the cycle of blackness had returned its attention to D, the voice almost hushed. "It is good to see you, D. You've become quite a skilled, talented young man...You were my only success. How I wish your mother Mina were around to see you now."

Like the voice was sticking a knife into the dhampire's body, D jerked, his eyes bright with hatred. "Do not speak of her," came the dhampire's soft voice, like that of a cloth, with an undercurrent of danger like a knife hiding beneath that cloth. With a click of his tongue and he brought the horse to halt a few feet from the cloud of darkness. A sword flashed out, inches from that cloud.

"You will die."

"D...?" Leila ventured, but she cut off by more laughter.

"Not by your hand, D." Then the darkness faded away but the voice still rang out across the courtyard. "If you want to still try you'll have to get through the castle. It is no easy feat I promise you, but if you're the success I think you are, D, you'll defeat all the challenges." The voice continued, amused. "And perhaps Meier will find his darling lady at the top."

"Charlotte?" Meier asked, his voice strained.

"...Of course you can't do that unless you slay my courtyard guardian first."

Then the three knew the presence to be gone, replaced by an enormous shadow that enveloped them, along with a huge wind that pressed down on them. The horses neighed anxiously, and D's dark hair and Leila's blond flew up as something passed overhead, landing on the stone steps not too far from where the darkness once stood. Except that something was far, far larger, and was not merely a presence, but surely of flesh and blood and scales.

Because D had finally released his left hand from the reins while he used it to pet the horse so that it calmed, Leftie took the opportunity to utter, "A dragon? I didn't think anyone had those anymore!"

The dragon shined a red as bright as blood drawn from a vampire's kiss, eyes flashing a lighter color of crimson. Little puffs of smoke wafted up from its nostrils, teeth flashing in its cavernous mouth easily the size of a tall man. Its tail swished back and forth as its gaze flickered from dhampire to vampire to human, seemingly amused and hungry.

And to add to all the tension and challenge the weather control system seemed to malfunction, as it changed from a peaceful nighttime sky to a torrential downpour within the span it took for Leila to draw three breaths. Somehow the vampire huntress sensed that that was part of the challenge the Sacred Ancestor had ordained for them, but why exactly?

You were my only success, he had said of D. Was this all part of some sick experiment to learn how powerful his son really was?

"You will die," D said as he sent his horse straight at the dragon, sword held high. Somehow Leila sensed that those words were not for the creature.

"For Charlotte!" called out Meier, gauntled hand transforming into a claw as he too, galloped his cybernetic steed at the dragon.

Leila sighed, hot on their heels astride the motorcyle. Stupid men and their fearless, foolish heroics!


	9. Scene 9

Scene 9

D was sheer magic.

That's what crossed Leila's mind as he leapt off his still-galloping steed, the after-image of him pierced by the dragon's swiftly darting claws. His cape flew up as the wings of a bat as the dhampire hung in the air for a few seconds, superimposed against the shining moon and the slashing rain. Then his sword leading the way in a long silvery flash, D came down, cutting the dragon hard against the neck.

Blood showered down and the dragon gave a roar of rage and pain. His tail swung, attempting to knock the dhampire away. D was a heartbeat quicker, slipping out of the way and leaping back onto his still running horse. With a hard yank on the reins and the dark-haired dhampire turned her to a sharp right, not taking a single blow the entire time.

And that all done without disturbing his long-brimmed hat.

Rain continued its march down, leaving its mark on the dhampire and the vampire. Still D attacked like it barely touched him, maybe because of his unique pedigree, or perhaps of the hatred burning in chest that Leila knew had to be there. Meier fared less, his steel claw flying out like a five-fingered spike, narrowingly missing the dragon's haunches. They would have to finish this battle quickly since not doing so would surely tap the energy of the half-blood and the full-blood since the rain sapped their strength at varying degrees.

Neither did Leila stay still, firing her rocket launcher at the creature. It took to the sky to evade the burning rocket, which instead left a huge hole in the steps, sending smoke high in the sky like an echo after the dragon. With it overhead Leila figured it be an even greater adversary, as Meier was grounded and her weapons could only fire up so high. But neither hampered D who launched himself off his horse again.

Again that sparkle of magic, that fire shooting in her veins to watch the theatre of swordplay D displayed against the dragon. The blade left several marks along the creature's flank, blood raining down.

The battle in the sky, the defibilating rain...none of that seemed to stop D, fueled by his desire to strike back against the man who'd given him life.

But what kind of life was the question...what kind and for what purpose?

Flames burst out of the dragon's maw, forcing D to spin away. Leila revved up her motorcyle, dodging the flames, but Meier was not so fortunate being almost directly below with not enough time to get out of the way. The human woman fully expected to see a charred mess on the ground when the smoke vanished, but the vampire lord's sharp mind saved him. His cape flew up, blocking the fire almost entirely. Even then Meier was forced to retreat somewhat, overcome by a coughing fit.

Fire and rain were no friends of those of vampire blood.

Still D fought on even as his comrades were mostly reduced to defending tactics. Framed by fire and rain, the dhampire appeared even more otherwordly as he took to the sky again, black cape whipped out like a mystic bird. His sword left a line of white light across the dragon as it opened its maw again. That line cut across its left wing, issuing forth more blood.

"D, look out!" cried Leila, as she pushed up her googles.

"The dragon!" That was Meier, his claw retracted as brought his horse to the human woman's side.

The dragon lost altitude, spinning down. The scream of rage, pain and fear that burst from its maw needled Leila's ears. D hung airborne only about a hundred feet underneath the falling dragon, and Leila cringed, hoping desperately that the dhampire would make quick his escape. But with D nothing could ever be so simple, as he instead took the opportunity to rain more blows on his opponent, entirely ignorant or uncaring about his percarious situation.

"D, get out of the way!" demanded the vampire lord.

"Please, D!" Leila couldn't understand why he chanced so much considering that the fall alone would probably kill the dragon, and all the other blows were overkill.

But safety was never something the dhampire let his mind linger on.

Then the dhampire finally twisted his body at the last second to escape being crushed by the dragon's body as it came down hard on the courtyard grounds. But D didn't get away fast enough or didn't think carefully enough for as he rolled to evade the belly, a single claw whipped around at an odd angle and pierced D in the back.

"No!" That single sylabel cut into the air as that single claw cut into D's skin.

It was a slow, horrifying moment to watch as the dhampire stumble to his knees. The sword clanked out of his reach. He took a few breaths, gagging. His body twisted and the dhampire lifted a hand to extend for his sword but D was out of strength and slumped to his side. A pool of blood quickly expanded around him like a shroud of melted roses to mark his grave.

"No," whispered Leila. She jumped off the motorbike and rushed to his side. Her knees were steeped in blood. Cradling the dhampire's head in her lap, she tried to wake him, but D seemed entirely bereft of life, his face even more white than its normally parafin-colored appearance. "Come on, D, wake up! You're gonna survive this!"

Meier came over, similarly distressed. Rain streamed down his body, weakening him yet he still spoke, urgent, "We must tend his wound. Get your medical kit." Without waiting for the stunned woman to react, he sorted through her belongings, locating said kit. Laying it down next to his body, the vampire lord looked aghast at the claw stuck in D's back. Then with a firm yank he pulled it out of the dhampire's back, freeing even more blood.

For a nerve-racking few seconds Leila feared that all the blood that the dragon and D spilt would set free the beast in Meier. But after shaking his head, the vampire lord was in control of himself, setting to task to try to still the flow of life out of the dhampire's back. Leila could see it was a wasted effort for the blood gushed out too swiftly and D was fading too quickly.

She shook him, eyes glistening not just from the rain pouring down her face. "Wake up! I ain't got no flowers to bury you with."

"Flowers...?" The vampire lord peered at her curiously.

But before the human woman could explain another voice spoke up, sounding quite miffed.

"I told you to stop being so foolhardy, D. How many time is this now? Huh? Huh? I ought to charge you a preminum everytime I save your sorry ass!"

A face appeared on D's left hand, twisting around to gaze at the vampire and the human. "Hrmph, he's a handful I tell you...and that's coming from a hand!" There were a few chortles but neither Leila nor Meier responded. They both knew of the countenanced carbuncle, but they both hadn't really asked or talked about it, since D was full of secrets, some they were uncomfortable to discuss. Leftie was one such secret.

"Well don't just stand around like a bunch of idiots. Our buddy D here needs some help." The beedy eyes glanced around at D's back. "What a nasty little wound. He's lucky he bent a bit as he dodged otherwise it would have hit his heart at an angle that might have instantly killed him. A bit of Leftie's magic should patch him up though."

The symbiont then instructed Leila and Meier to feed him some of the gravel, water him from the waterbottle she had and then Leftie sucked in some air. There was even enough of a fire left for him to swallow up, completing the last of the elements. After Leila rolled the dhampire onto his stomach, the symbiont twisted up to face his back, expelling some strange energy into the wound.

After making some slight groans D stood, blood and rain dripping off him. Leila and Meier rose with him, both startled to see such a swift recovery. Even Meier, a vampire, would be hard-pressed to survive a stab through his back at that angle, no matter if it hadn't hit at the perfect angle. The human woman would probably be gone instantly, maybe even before she hit the ground.

There was D, adjusting his hat and reaching for his sword.

"What, no thanks?" demanded Leftie. "That is so you, D."

Still no response as the dhampire sheathed his sword and headed toward the castle. An irate voice halted him though.

"The hand-face is right you know. You'd be dead if it weren't for all of us." Leila had her hands on her hips.

Meier gave a grunt of support for that statement.

D stood with his back to them, the rip in his cape still evident. Wind picked up his hair and that cape, as if to lend more creedence to his aura and beauty. Being pretty wasn't everything Leila knew, and while the dhampire was no villian, there was something dark in his soul that polluted him to empathy and appreciation of others. If he kept that icy exterior around him forever he would never be set free from the loathing and fear of others.

But maybe he perfered it that way?

Either way he owed them an apology but it still stunned the woman when D cast his head over his shoulder, rain dripping off the rim of his hat. The very radiance in his eyes nearly stopped her heart.

"Thank you, all of you."

Then, once again, D strode up the steps, into the castle and out of sight.

Shifting to face her, Meier made mention of something but the human woman didn't hear. Face flushed with anger, Leila raced as fast as she could at the double doors. When she reached them she flung them wide open, seeing D inside walking at a steady pace in the main foyer. As his hand touched the railing of a staircase she darted on ahead. This time the dhampire would be left in her dust, unless he planned to hurry his step.

She couldn't keep the grin off her face at the mild look of surprise on his face when she passed him.

Meanwhile a voice said, highly amused, "I told you that girl had spunk!"


	10. Scene 10

Scene 10

There they were, a door between them and the Sacred Ancestor.

Leila threw a glance D's way, but the dhampire seemed impassive as he drew his sword. The whole trip up the castle he'd been nothing but a theatre of swordplay and grace as he slayed all they'd met on their way up here. One might think he was merely sitting down for tea rather than facing the man who'd given him life, and one he'd take life from, if he could.

If he could. Could D? What had the Sacred Ancestor said "Not by your hand, D". Did he mean that D wasn't strong enough to defeat him?

Meanwhile Meier unleashed his spiked hand, his face a few shades more intense than D's. One could easily imagine why. The Sacred Ancestor claimed the woman he loved was here, and was alive. It was exactly what Meier had dared dream but never hoped, but Leila also suspected that it wouldn't be as simple as spiriting Charlotte away.

They were being herded here for some reason...

Without asking any of them if they were ready, D laid a hand on the door and pushed it open.

Inside was the Sacred Ancestor looking immaculate and powerful as he rested on stone-and-gold throne, his black cloak sprayed over like midnight melted around his form. His steel-gray hair and eyes pierced them even as he sat there, completely at ease. A single crimson stone not unlike D's blue jewel hung over his white shirt that was completed by a black vest, trousers and boots.

He didn't appear evil but Leila knew appearances weren't everything.

"Come in," purred the vampire king, amused.

D strode in, cape floating around his body in his graceful step. Meier and Leila followed, standing at his flank a few inches behind. The dhampire held his sword in a figure eight stance, fedora shadowing his face as he tilt it. "I've come for your life."

The Sacred Ancestor made a soft throaty sound of amusement. "You will try."

Suddenly Meier stepped forward, past D. "Enough of this! Where is Charlotte?"

"Ah, yes," murmured the Sacred Ancestor. "Your damsel in distress. She's not the same, though. But if you will accompany me, I will show you."

"What did you do to her!?"

But of course there was no answer to that, the vampire king stepping off his throne and through a side door, forcing the three to keep step with him or lose him. He slipped up a set of stairs and into a room. D and Meier hurried on in, but Leila hesitated a moment, feeling desperately like this was one big trap. But curiosity and concern overcame her apprehension and the human woman entered.

Inside was a glass coffin on a pedstal. Charlotte rested in that coffin, still attired in that beautiful white gown. Her brown hair framed her body like earthly flowers, milk-white hands clasped, eyes shut.

Meier stumbled to her coffin, his face full of wonder. "Charlotte? Are you alright? Wake up, Charlotte!" His fist came down on the glass, but it withheld.

His eyes burned. "You will not remain prisoner, my precious love." The hand that contained his spiked fingers crashed into the glass, shattering it. It was a miracle that not a piece pierced the woman, but Meier was clever with the way he positioned his hand, and only some shards dared enter her hair, which he hastily brushed aside.

Meanwhile D quickly investigated the walls, his left hand running over them. There was no sign of the Sacred Ancestor. "Come out and face me if you do not fear me." His voice held too much animosity to be considered amused, but there was a slight taunting sound, as if the dhampire thought himself so imposing that his own father would not challenge him.

That couldn't be it, Leila was certain. Then they heard Meier gasp.

Charlotte had risen and left the coffin. Her hand was around the vampire's neck, digging her nails into his white skin. Her eyes burned crimson, vicious and joyous. She seemed to delight in torturing her lover and as D and Leila watched they saw elongated teeth protrude from her lower and upper lips.

"My...love...why?" Meier was gagging.

Then a swarm of darkness appeared in the far wall, colascing into a single form, that of the Sacred Ancestor. He looked as impeccable as ever, eyes like jewels formed from midnight, those eyes on D even as he addressed Meier. "She is mine now. When you were lying almost dead from being ensared in Carmilla's spell I inputted a chip into her brain that kept her alive, even as she appeared dead."

Charlotte had thrown the vampire lord to the floor, and his hand flew up to his neck. "How dare you defile her!" he yelled, standing. Then his eyes returned to his love, those eyes anguished. "Charlotte, listen to me, it's Meier...please..."

But all the young woman did was advance upon him, the hunger in every step she took.

"A few experiments later and I have achieved something miraculous!" the Sacred Ancestor went on, this time a bit of excitement coloring his tone. "She is ready for my greatest experiment!"

"There won't be any more experiments," came D's cold voice. Then, like a spear of sheer darkness, the dhampire launched into the air. Coming down briefly on the coffin, he kicked off again, landing directly in front of his fater. His sword made a satisfying ring of steel as it came free from his sheath, aimed at the Sacred Ancestor's heart.

"D, be careful!" said Leila but somehow she knew he had not heard, not cared.

"Have at me!" taunted the vampire king.

So D did.

The blade flashed out, blocked by some sort of forcefield. D spun around and attacked from another angle. Blocked. He leapt, achieving a downward cut. Still blocked. Sideways slash. Blocked. Diagonally. Straight. Curved. It didn't matter, for every single assault was deflected as easily as the wind pushed aside a leaf.

And still the dhampire came on, against all logic and with zero success. It was like D's mind had seized on this single action, killing his father, and no other paths lay before him. It was almost pitiful to watch, Leila thought, as the dhampire swung his sword to no effect, yet kept on coming, desperate to land even a single blow.

"D, this is pointless," Leftie was saying, fearful. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Yes, D, stop and flee!" This time it was Leila, her voice cracking as she watched the dhampire consumed by his hatred so much that he maintained the scoreless onslaught in the worst kind of tunnel vision she'd ever seen. Surely the Sacred Ancestor wouldn't stand there the entire time while his son attacked. Eventually he would be satisfied by whatever he was gauging and...

...and what? What exactly did he have planned for D? There was no point in shooting her gun or attacking with her knife, the human woman knew. Yet what else was there to do?

"I think that's enough of that," said the Sacred Ancestor as pulled something out of his volumious cloak. It was a strange object, a candle to be exact, but it didn't cast light the way Leila expected. Yet while it barely effected her, the human woman quickly realized the candle's purpose.

In mid-thrust D stumbled, gagging. His sword clanked to the floor, and his own knees met that stone soon after, clutching his neck. A hand came up to block the light emanating from the candle but again the dhampire could do nothing but choke. Meier too was rendered helpless, collasped on the floor, Charlotte hovering.

"What are you doing to him!" Leila demanded as she ran over to D.

"Run," growled the dhampire as he pushed her away. "Get out."

"This is time-bewitching incense," said the Sacred Ancestor seemingly ignorant of Leila's presence. "You've seen it before, haven't you, D?" His father strode past D, carrying the candle, its power not diminishing even as the vampire king clasped Charlotte's hand and led her back to the cracked coffin, completely ignoring Meier. "Of course you have. I made it, you know. This is the most powerful in my collection."

Then the vampire king strode back to his son, kneeling so he could be next to him. "And I made this one specifically tailored to your biochemistry. In fact I think with just one more..." The Sacred Ancestor brought the candle just an inch from D's face.

Darkness swam to embrace the dhampire. Where Leila, Meier, Charlotte or even his father were he no longer cared. From darkness he sprung and to darkness he would again be consigned, carried away from all thought and being.


	11. Scene 11

Scene 11

When D awoke, he was swamped by darkness. Standing in it, too. As the dhampire tried to move he could feel restraints. He could barely budge his head to peer into the blackness as something emerged from the even darker shadows. Even for one as stoic as the dhampire D felt something sting inside as the humanoid form came within view.

It was Mina. His mother.

Wrapped in an enormous white dress, the dark-haired woman approached, hands extended. "It's me, D, your mother!" She wrapped those hands around the steel-frame of D's chest, head rested on him. "Look how big you've grown! And into a handsome young man too!" Her voice was muffled as she said, "I've missed you."

For a moment the vampire hunter stood there, his own countenance strained. Then those eyes focused and he said, coldly, "Begone, phantom. You are not my mother."

"D..."

Then the images vanished, replaced by the sight of a white-wash ceiling and a harsh overhead light. The dhampire didn't struggle, already aware of why he couldn't move. He could feel the cold clasps that bound his wrists, ankles, chest and even neck. His eyes swept the room, taking it all in a moment, from the numerous scientific instruments, bottles of murky liquid and his father standing by a table, examining a long needle.

Dimly, in the back of his mind D also noted that he was stark naked, but he knew that was easily among the least of his worries.

"You are not my mother," the dhampire said, deadpanned.

The Sacred Ancestor stilled even his hands upon the needle. Then he turned around. "No, but you are my son."

D didn't respond, his eyes finding the ceiling unduly interesting. His ears picked up the sound of the Sacred Ancestor approaching. When he reached D's side, his father leaned over, face inches from the dhampire's. "You can deny it, dispute the fact to your heart's content, but the truth remains. I am your father."

"You are a bastard," said D, straight-faced, with not a mote of emotion in his eyes. Yet had there been a single person else to hear him, they might have fainted, shocked, that the dhampire even spoke in such a manner. It was a testament to his hatred that he would let even the slightest hint of fury in his words.

Indeed, the Sacred Ancestor's eyes flashed, angered. "You're one to talk." His hand came hard across D's face, leaving a ugly red mark. But his next few words did a lot more damage than even a sword pierce through the dhampire's heart.

"She was a slut, you know, your mother. She threw herself at me."

Now D did struggle against his bounds even as struggled to maintain his demeanor. "You lie."

"No, I do not." The Sacred Ancestor went back to his needle, fiddling with it. Interestingly enough there wasn't a single drop of any liquid within. "She was just like the others. Sluts, all of them. I'd take her and then she begged me to take her again. She was unsatisfiable. She really was so easy to use, even more so than the others."

"You raped her," came D's cold voice.

His father growled, hands tightening around the needle. "She came at me. They were all whores at heart, coveting my power and riches. And they got what they deserved in the end."

"I saw you." Again the dhampire's voice was wintry. "I saw you do it a dozen times. You took her against her will, while she screamed, cried, begged you to stop. And when she could no longer stand it she threw herself from the castle walls." Then D sagged, as if spent from all the emotion coursing through his blood.

He would never forget the sight, though the dhampire often longed to. It was imprinted in his soul, shaking him to the core. And that soul recoiled from any touch, fearful of either becoming that victim or, worse, the villain. It was why he would rejected any sort of affection, why he turned so many away.

And D did know one thing his father spoke of as truth, truth he spoke now.

"She came at me the first time."

Though the dhampire longed to keep his lips closed he couldn't stop himself from saying, "That does not mean you own her that instant. You invaded her life until she finally broke. The moment she showed even the slightest interest you made off with her, violated her and claimed her as yours." His eyes narrowed like a blade about to strike. "She was not yours, as I am not."

Hard upon on the metal table did his father's hand crash, in fury. "She had to be taught some humility!" The Sacred Ancestor returned to his side, needle held in a hand. "As I will teach you." With a single twist of his wrist and his father drove the needle into D's skin at his elbow, causing the dhampire to flinch ever so slightly.

After drawing a tiny amount of blood, his father withdrew the needle, stepping back over to the table. He filled a tiny vial with the fluid, shaking it a few times. As he did so he continued to talk, voice much more contained now. "You are mine, D. I gave you life. So that means you belong to me." His eyes appraised the vial then he clutched another vial also filled with blood.

To this D did not respond, also once more in control of himself. Where Leftie was the dhampire didn't know, surmising that his father had silenced the countenanced carbuncle, perhaps permanently. Now he was wholly focused on escape, eyes darting along from one shadowed corner to another, testing the chains ever so lightly.

But there was no escape.

"Do you know who's blood this is?"

Again no response, but the dhampire did shift his head to see the Sacred Ancestor holding two vials of blood, one of which was his'.

"Charlotte's. I took it as she lay dying, before I implanted the chip that changed her." His gaze slipped from one vial to the other. "When I combine these in the petri dish along with others of both your cells and then insert it into Charlotte, it should give life to a child. I know it should work, since I've already tried with other dhampires and she was impregnated a few times already." In an off-handed manner he added, "I had those disposed of, of course, so I could make room for your offspring."

Even D in all his stoic glory couldn't suppress a shudder. Leftie had said it while he rode to Castle Chayte 'I know what really gets to you...it's the thought of those two lovebirds making another dhampire'. And the symbiont was entirely correct; it was the thing he feared most of all, that another of his kind would be brought into this world, another being birthed of darkness and light, a twisted soul just like him.

And now, against his will, D would be a participant in that.

Now the vampire hunter did struggle again, fighting to be free, to strangle his father. His chest heaved as breaths came out from his lips. The Sacred Ancestor stared at him for a few moments, annoyed, amused. Then he lifted the Time Bewitching incense and brought it over to D. Darkness started to close over the dhampire like a dark wave coming to consume him.

"By the way, D, you're not really a bastard."

Now the darkness couldn't claim him quickly enough.

"Your mother came willingly that first time and became pregnant with you, so she married me. She said it was the 'right thing to do'." The laughter that accompanied those words sent little daggers into D's soul. "I raped her while you were yet in the womb to teach her some humility. She did bore others I forced upon her, to reward her for her foolishness, to see what your siblings would be. All were failures so I got rid of them."

"But you, D...you were conceived of love. And you were a success, the only success."

Then, mercifully, the darkness bore him away.


	12. Scene 12

Scene 12

He knew naught how long he slept, but suddenly the Hunter's senses tingled with the approach of someone. It was utterly dark yet his eyes cut through the gloom, seeing a blonde woman in a tight, red bodysuit genuflected at his side. In her hands was a plasma phaser, which she used on his chains without a word. Nor did D utter anything, letting her do her work.

When the last of the chains fell away, the dhampire rose and hurried over to his clothes, sword and hat on a chair nearby. He threw on clothes, placed the hat on his head and sheathed his sword. Again without a word the two dashed out of the room, into another antechamber beyond, and beyond that into another side room, where Leila finally addressed him.

"Again no thanks," tutted the woman. "You're lucky to have me around. You'd be a goner."

D predictably said nothing.

The human woman frowned. "Meier's downstairs in the prison and Charlotte's holed up in some bedroom on the level above us." She made to head out as she said, "We'll go get Meier then Charlotte. I'm sure between the two of us we can figure out some way to free them..."

A hand came down on her shoulder.

"I will fetch Charlotte. You get Meier. We'll meet by castle doors in a half hour."

Leila slapped his hand off. "What kind of plan is that? You couldn't defeat your father before--how do you plan to manage that now?"

But, of course, D was already out the door.

Without looking behind the dhampire bounded up the steps, taking them three at time. He could feel the squirming in his hand, the tell-tale of the symbiont struggling to get a word in. But the Hunter kept his left hand in a fist. His tolerance level was already at its limit with how he'd been easily beaten by the Sacred Ancestor (which Leila unpleasantly reminded the dhampire of) and with how his mood as it was, he'd likely cut the offending appendenage off.

Unfortunately he needed all the allies he could procure right now, annoying and otherwise.

Cloak billowing out like bat's wings, D sailed into the room. Inside was Charlotte, lying like a china doll, all beautified and innocent. Her brown curls made the perfect compliment to her white dress, like was some kind of sleeping angel. Her hands were folded on her chest as she lay upon a simple cot.

D was at her side in a moment, his dark eyes swiftly appraising her. A very slight frown dipped his lips down then he finally freed Leftie from his fingered prison, resting the symbiont on the stomach of the young woman.

"Now this is a touch I could get use to!" chuckled the left hand.

"Is she?" There was as much warmth in D's voice as winter winds.

"Is she what?" Though the words indicated puzzlement, the tint of the voice clearly showed Leftie knew exactly what the Hunter was asking about.

"Is she?" the dhampire repeated, still calm, still cold.

"How should I know?"

"Is she?" Now D tightened his fist so hard the symbiont let out a cry of pain. "Answer me."

When the dhampire opened his hand again, Leftie wore an irked expression, but one look into the dark depth of D's eyes wiped that clean off. Instead the symbiont looked most uncomfortable. Something floated in those depths that chilled even the normally irrepressible countenanced carbuncle.

"What if she is?"

D thrust his left hand up the woman's skirt. Leftie squealed, shocked, escatic. "D, you have no idea how excited this makes me..." The sigh he gave next was most piteous. "...but I really think we don't have time for that..."

"Get rid of it."

"What?"

"Abort it."

"D!" admonished the symbiont. "I can't...I won't do that. She's the mother. You can't just do that without her premission."

"You have premission: mine." There was naught but ice in that voice.

"I won't do it, D. It's wrong."

Placidly the dhampire withdrew his hand. Then his other hand angled up for his sword, bringing it to bear on the woman's belly. With a single tilt of the blade and he'd gut her good. No soul fluttered in his eyes, his entire being bent on eliminating the creature growing in Charlotte. It didn't matter that it was his. He'd destory every last Noble, no matter whose blood it carried.

"D...You wouldn't...She's just a girl. She's carrying your baby!"

"That's precisely why I'm killing her. Either you abort it or I'll have to abort it the only way I can."

The symbtiont growled. "That's a nasty bit of blackmail there, D."

"What's it going to be?"

Another growl, angrier this time. "I guess you leave me no choice. Let's get this over with it."

Placing his hand back up Charlotte's skirt, D could hear Leftie say, "At least the view will be nice. Now, I just need to get her panties off..."

"Don't move."

D stiffened and halted his hand. Glancing over his shoulder, the dhampire saw a blonde woman in a tight, red bodysuit.

Leila.


	13. Scene 13

Scene 13

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" D could feel the imprint of the plasma gun in his back. "Why would you do this to her? You could have a dozen women in your bed in seconds if you so much as batted your eyes at them."

"It's not what you think," the dhampire said, deadpanned.

The gun made an even deeper imprint. Even D with all his otherworldly speed would be hard-pressed to evade a shot that came at that distance. "It's certainly what it looks like! If got an explanation I'd recommend you spit it out now, before I blast a hole in your chest."

But D remained silent. He had removed his hand finally and closed it into a fist, to prevent the symbiont from commenting.

Leila prodded with her gun. "Wake her."

"We do not know if she's in control of herself."

"Do it anyways."

There was a slight grunting sound from D's perfect lips, and he placed Leftie on the girl's forehead. Within seconds Charlotte awoke, murmuring as she came to. Her brown eyes widened to see Leila and D and the gun between. She quickly slipped off the cot and huddled against the wall.

"What is going on?" Her voice did not sound like the hungered growls she'd made before.

"Get out of here." Leila's voice brokered no argument.

"But—What…"

"Go," the older woman continued. "Meier is outside waiting for you."

In the span of a heartbeat the woman was gone, pearly-white face flushed in happiness. Outside D could hear the lovers reuniting, their voices joyous in their embrace. Meanwhile the vampire huntress had not moved, seemingly torn in her dilemma. With where he'd had his hand, Leila assumed some untoward was happening D had surmised. And while being thought of as such cut deep to D's soul after what occurred with his mother, Leila might have been even more furious had she known what was really going on.

"Are you going to kill me?" Not a shred of emotion floated in those words.

"I want to."

"I can imagine why." D's face was as impassive as ever, yet a hint of sympathy lurked here.

She growled. "You couldn't begin to understand."

"Try me."

Again that gun pressed into his back, a bit more forceful this time. "Oh, I won't fall for that again. You know enough already. If anyone should be explaining anything, it should be you."

"We don't have the time."

Now that gun trained on his dark-haired head. Again a blast that close to a vital organ would likely spell death for the vampire hunter. Certainly Leftie could fix him up, or probably anyways, but Leila would stop him, obviously. "Make time. Spill it. I'm tired of all your little secrets." Her voice choked, fighting between fury and sorrow.

Still D retained his silence. Then a voice spoke up.

"He's one big ball of suffering…urgh!" And with a balled up fist, Leftie was quieted as well.

"No, let him speak," Leila said.

"He has nothing to tell you."

"I want to hear him anyways."

Surprisingly the dhampire relented. The countenanced carbuncle immediately reappeared on his hand. "He's totally incorrigible I tell you." Sensing both the human woman and the vampire hunter's impatience, Leftie hurriedly went on. "Trust me, tots, D ain't like that. Hasn't touched a woman in centuries, and never like that. It's quite a shame I tell you. With the number of hotties he has after him if he were to oblige even a tenth of them he'd never get out of bed." A sound like a sigh floated up from the hand. "I never get any action anymore."

If it weren't for the fact that his eyes were open Leila might have thought D asleep, for he moved not an inch and didn't even flinch as the symbiont spoke. Those words rung of greater truth than anything. The dhampire was a god in human (or rather half-human) form, crafted like a statue from the purest marble, every muscle and bone chiseled immaculately. His very eyes, as dark as the depths of a river, could bespell a woman in less than a heartbeat, making her long for his touch. And Leila guessed that D was no mere eye candy either, if his speed and strength on the battlefield were any indication of such in a bed.

And yet, as Leftie bemoaned, D rarely indulged himself.

Swallowing down the question in her heart, the vampire huntress asked the question in her head. "Then if you weren't trying to have your way with her, what were you doing?"

Of course D didn't answer but Leftie did. "He's trying to abort the baby."

"Charlotte's pregnant?" Leila verily squealed, shocked. "But I thought you said…"

"His old man's doing. Took D's cells and impregnated her."

"Why?" She was aghast, her gun-hand quivering. The dhampire gauged her emotional state, determining how much more stunned she would need to be to give him room to disarm her.

"I don't know, tots, but D here doesn't want to be a father, so he ordered me…" A growl here. "…to do away with it."

Leila was shaking, overwhelmed by all the tragedies crowding around at once. The Sacred Ancestor using D's cells to impregnate Charlotte. D trying to abort the baby. Now she was standing here, his life in her hands. If she should let him go, likely the dhampire would hunt down the woman and finish his "task". A few tears slipped out of her eyes, crying for Charlotte for how she was violated, for D for how he was tasked with disgusting "duty" and for her, for being forced to decide how it all should play out.

"She's the mother…" the vampire huntress ventured. "She has rights."

"Does the father not also have rights?"

It was such a strange sound coming from his lips, invested with more emotion than she'd expected. And it was exactly the kind of distraction D needed. Her hand lowered a few inches, pondering his statement, and the dhampire capitalized on it. His own hand flashed up to snatch his long-bladed sword and knock the gun out of her hands. Though for a second there Leila feared he'd kill her for her insolence, she was not what was on his mind.

D was out of the door in a flash, running down a set of stairs. He was chasing after the mother of his child, sword lifted high.


	14. Scene 14

Scene 14

"Don't do it, D. Or rather, don't make me do it."

"Quiet."

Like the wings of an avenging dark angel, D raced down the steps of castle, taking them two or even three or more at a time. Though his face was as a crystal vase, cool and unrevealing, inside churned a burning need to find Charlotte and end the life of the creature growing inside her. Already it would probably be a third or more grown, if what the Sacred Ancestor's other experiments prove to be truth—his father had no patience even for the natural science of pregnancy, and likely injected the young woman with drugs that would rapidly speed along its growth, among other things.

Among other things…Drugs to enhance its beauty, strength and intelligence. The kind of chemical invasion that the Sacred Ancestor had used on him. D didn't talk about those centuries spent as a captive of his father, didn't even think on them. Like what had done to his mother, the dhampire blocked out the memories, letting them stew in his subconscious, escaping only when his emotions got the better of him.

And now he would not let emotions stand in the way of his self-imposed mission.

Slaying his own child.

"You're not killing it, I'm killing it," Leftie growled, reading D's mind as he often did. "And it don't sit right with me."

"I said be quiet." The voice was as calm as ever, yet conveyed a strict command.

"No, D, you will listen to what I have to say…This is wrong. Charlotte might want to keep it. You might even change your mind after a while when think about bouncing a baby on your knee…"

"Be quiet or I'll cut you off."

That silenced the symbiont. Leftie knew that D would only slice him off if he absolutely had to, since while the countenanced carbuncle was a nuisance with his chatter and invasive comments, he was also what saved the dhampire's life on numerous occasions. It would take incredible strain to make the always forward-thinking vampire hunter to cease association with something that was that useful.

But even a symbiont could pester D enough to make that usefulness end.

The dhampire caught sight of Charlotte's long brown hair as she and Meier stepped into a corridor. D was fast behind, like a silent killer awaiting the moment his prey had their back turned. Ever as swift as light itself, the vampire hunter closed the distance between himself and the pair, cutting through the main foyer and using a chandelier to swing over their heads and land between them and the door out.

"Oh!" gasped Charlotte.

Meier pulled his lover close to him, his eyes flashed with confusion. "D…what are doing here?"

"Hand over the girl."

Burying herself into the vampire's chest, Charlotte muttered, "No, I don't trust you. Why did Leila have a gun pointed at you? What were you doing?"

"Answer, D, what did you do?" The voice of the vampire lord could cut stone, full of anger and coldness.

D's hair swept across his back like midnight poured down it, his attire to match. The sword pointed straight ahead at the two. His answer was to ignore the questions and ask one of his own, as he was often wont to do. "Why did He know I was here? Why was he prepared? What did he offer you for me…her?"

"Meier!" Now the young woman darted back from her lover, eyes bright with fear. "What is he talking about?"

Now Meier's eyes emulated his voice, but this time also tinted with worry. "Nothing, my love. We are leaving now. Together." He turned to look upon the beautiful hunter. "You will not stop us."

"You will not pass. Give me the girl."

"Why? Why do you want her?"

D didn't respond, instead taking to the air, sword leading the way in a single flash of light. The vampire lord's hand sprang out to block the attack. A sharp clang sounded in the air and a screech of metal as the two locked, determined to force the other to give ground. Though a formidable fighter in his own right, Meier was simply no match for the dhampire, and knew it, but refused to cede.

"Stop this!" Charlotte yelled. "We should all escape together."

"Does he know?" D's voice was remarkably light, considering that he locked weapons with Meier.

"Know what?"

"Do you know?"

That seemed to shatter the shroud of confusion around the young woman and she let out a cry, hands clasping her mouth. Meanwhile the half-blood and full-blood continued their bout, sending sparks in the air and turning their weapons crimson from friction. Meier's own eyes shifted to the same shade, strained from the sheer of force of D's strength. For his part the dhampire remained collective and cool, face impassive.

"Please…" Charlotte's voice was small, frightened. "Tell me…No, it can't be."

"Sorry, tots," came a voice from the vicinity of D's left hand. "It's true. You're pregnant."

"What?" That was Meier, stricken with his shock. That shock gave the dhampire the edge he needed, and D bawled the vampire over. Though he could have easily dealt a death blow, the vampire hunter instead swept over to Charlotte, catching her even as she fainted.

Braced by his left hand, the young woman looked like so small, so fragile. Throwing her over his shoulder, the dhampire rushed off, sword still wielded by his right. He had to reach somewhere safe to perform the operation before the Sacred Ancestor divined his escape or Charlotte's and sent his guardians after him. Or worse, pursued D himself. Just as Meier was no match for D, the dhampire couldn't hold a candle to his father. He'd learned that the hard way…

A solution presented itself in an examination room about a corridor down. Like the room that had imprisoned D, this one contained all manner of scientific implements and bottles of bizarre liquids. At the far end was a table and there the dhampire lay the young woman. Then D lifted his left hand to his face.

"Get to it."

"D, please…"

"You know what I must do if you refuse…"

"You miserable bastard…Fine. Let's get this over with." Leftie sounded almost more disgusted with himself than with D.

Dropping his hand onto Charlotte's stomach, the dhampire halted. He'd felt something. Something very odd. Like movement. There it was again. In that moment, D's mind froze and his lips parted ever so lightly. His emotions crashed all around him, like he stumbled into a waterfall, jumbled and spilling over his mind. It was not something he was prepared for, and the dhampire had encountered many a strange thing over the centuries indeed.

The symbiont's voice was muffled, and not just from having his face covered. "I felt it too."

Those words appeared to draw D out of his trance, for he straightened then commanded, "Do it."

"But…didn't you feel that? The baby kicked. It's already kicking! Isn't that something? It's your…"

"It's a creature of Him. Abort it now." Now the hand was placed once again beneath her skirt.

"I don't know if I'd forgive you for forcing me to do this…" But even as the symbiont uttered that, he went to work, seemingly not even placated by the "advantages" of his gruesome task. It would take some time, D knew, and he kept his sword near in case either Leila or Meier came to stop him. Though even he was experiencing a feeling of doubt from his actions, the dhampire kept on his symbiont to complete it, determined to keep another of his kind from populating the world.

…was this really so different from the way his father slain the siblings his mother bore?

Then, a voice.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that."


	15. Scene 15

Scene 15

D didn't need to turn around to know whom that voice belonged to, but he did so anyways. There was his father, the Sacred Ancestor. For a moment their eyes, mirrors of darkness, met and a message was conveyed in them. A promise of death for the one who struck first, or last, whoever wasn't faster and smarter in the fight.

Of course, the dhampire was keenly aware that he was neither in this. Yet he shirked not from the gaze, giving back what he got from his father.

The Sacred Ancestor pressed his lips together, eyes appraising his son almost lazily. "You know I cannot allow that. This is my greatest experiment. The genes of light and darkness molded together, with all the technology I've invested with the chip I've placed in her. The child will be like no other. It is my success."

"I thought I was your only success." Not a hint of resentment colored D's tone, but there was something almost akin to mockery.

"You were. Were, that is. I've no more use for you."

From the corner of D's gaze he could glimspe the time-bewitching incense. This time however, he was prepared for it, swinging his sword cleanly through the device. It fell apart onto the marble flooring, candle rolling to his booted feet. Kicking it aside, the dhampire sent his stroke backwards, intent on clearing the vampire's head from his body.

"D, look out!" hissed his symbiont.

A pain as intense as ice and fire all at once siezed his chest. The vampire hunter gagged, glancing down at his torso to see four clawed fingers imbeded there. Blood seeped out, but that wasn't the thing that worried the dhampire so. The first of the four fingers had perfectly pierced his heart, and it was quickly arresting.

"As I said, I've no more use for you. Charlotte, let him go and come over to me."

The four fingers vanished and D crashed to his knees, sword clanking to the floor. Now the blood came out in a quartet of gushers. Around him he could see the brown-haired maiden step over to his father, a fiendish smile upon her doll-like face. Blood dripped from the claw of her hand, leaving splotches on her pristine dress. It was a bizarre and yet entirely appropriate constrast of colors-beauty and death.

"You have served your purpose well, D," the Sacred Ancestor was saying, though the dhampire barely heard, lifting a black-gloved hand to vainly attempt to stanch the flow of his life, "Now your son or daughter will carry your legacy, and serve me well too."

Hatred burned in every cell in the dhampire's body, but he simply didn't have the strength to stand, let alone tear his father's heart from his chest. His own heart wasn't cooperating at all, though D thought to remedy that issue if his father left otherwise unmarred. It appeared as such as the vampire took Charlotte's small hand in his own, and lead her to the door.

The mother of the child slayed the father of the child she still bore...

Once gone D planned to call upon his symbiont and heal the wound, if the counteanced carbuncle could. Even D was becoming doubtful that such an immaculate strike could be foiled.

"Oh, yes, I'd forgotten, hadn't I?" said the Sacred Ancestor, as if he'd remembered just now, though the dhampire mused it wasn't so suddenly. His father returned to his side, towering down on the genfluected vampire hunter. "Time to take back that which I gave you. Your child will make more use of it now."

With a single stroke and his father sliced his left hand off with a steel finger. D didn't even feel it with all his nerves abandoning their task of keeping him aware of his pain. Everything was growing so terribly cold, which was strange as the dhampire rarely felt that particular sensation. But while he didn't feel the pain per say, he was more than adequately aware of what that meant.

His sole means of salvation, gone. Leftie had been taken.

After his father and the...mother of his unborn child...departed, D remained crouched on the floor, fighting the feeling of sleep that threatened to overtake him. Death did not bring him fear; failure did. Failure to keep his kin from multiplying. It was his own cells that would now bring another of his cursed kind in this world.

To D, there could be no worse fate. And yet consciousness slipped from his fingers as sand might, drawing him into the sweet folds of sleep.

The dhampire didn't know how long he was out before a sound awoke him. Pain lanced through his chest, spreading throughout his entire body. The very fact that he woke at all was a miracle, as any human, even vampire, would likely be dead by now. Only Leftie could revive D and even then the circumstances had to favor the symbiont.

"D, wake up!"

His dark eyes fluttered open to gaze into the face of Leila. She craddled his head in her lap.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded, tearing up.

"Charlotte..." he uttered, "I must stop...Him."

"You're in position to do anything." The red bodysuit squeaked as she moved around in his blood. "Where's that damn freak of a hand you have? It can help you! It did before-"

"Gone. Taken." It was a struggle to keep his eyes open.

"Then what else can save you!" Her voice bordered on complete panic. Why she cared about the dhampire after he'd tried to abort Charlotte's child-their child-puzzled him, but he had little enough presence of mind to care.

A single thought graced the dhampire's mind and he shook it away almost instantly. D absolutely refused to even consider it. Slave-driving the symbiont was one thing-his survival was often its survival. But doing as he briefly thought of was tantamount to giving into everything the vampire hunter had railed against his entire life.

As if she read the very thought on his forehead, Leila murmured. "Blood. You need it to give you the strength to heal this wound."

"No." There was a quiet desperation to that refusal in the dhampire's voice. The woman understood it perfectly. He'd rather perish than relinquish that tight control over his vampire instincts. Perhaps because the dhampire fought so hard against it that it would be a mockery to ever give in; maybe he feared that if he surrendered to it even once, no matter the reason, that it would never end there.

And when the hunter submitted to his dark desires, there was always others to hunt him.

"D, you have to. You're the only one who can stop your father." She shifted his face so he couldn't help but have her worried face in his field of vision. "And I know that he's got some very bad plans for this spacestation and for our own world."

There was a soft sigh here, then, "To defeat the monster, you have to become a monster."

D knew this for truth. Even at his very best, the Sacred Ancestor could likely defeat him easily. Now he was far from it; the vampire hunter couldn't even stand, much less wield a sword. And now Leftie was taken, and left in his place was four wounds that would never begin to heal on their own. If Leila hadn't used a kit on him, the dhampire would have perished already.

His human side simply was too weak; his vampire side held the only advantage for him now.

D took her hand limply in his. It was shaking, but the woman didn't pull away, even as she must know what was to come next. Her courage spurred his own, and the dhampire brushed his lips on the gloved hand, as if by way of an apology. Letting out a slight gasp, the dhampire reined in his own apprenhension and self-disgust, piercing the glove and skin with his vampiric teeth.

Some said that to devour life-force was like sex to vampires. The theory was not without merits. To the dhampire it carried the same urgency, pleasure, dominance, hot, maddening joy and complete lack of inhibition. It could never be enough and all at once, too much. He couldn't take anymore, yet never wanted it to end. But end it did. Because of him.

Relinquishing the bite, the dhampire slid away from Leila. Her eyes were squeezed shut, murmuring in rapture. D stared at her from underneath the shield of his fedora. Not only had he felt misery at seeing no other path than to use her life-force to heal his wound, but now a fresh pouring of such came from seeing the affect on her mentally.

Vampire victims often became very beholden to their masters. Vampires sucked the life, blood and emotions from their victims, casting them aside when they were cleaned out. That left the victims, if they lived, drowning in a sea of suffering, never fulfilled.

Her eyes opened, though barely. "D...That was...I think I..."

"I'm leaving to find Him. If you can find Meier or the symbiont, do so. Get them out of here. But most of all, get out yourself." His voice bit like winter winds as he rose. The wound had not completely healed, and somehow the dhampire knew it never would. But as he returned his sword to its sheath, he knew it would have to be enough.

"D...I think I..."

His right hand (for he had no left anymore) slipped over her lips. "No, you don't. You only think it because we were bonded briefly by the blood. But you are free, Leila, because I won't survive this bout. I cannot kill my...Him. But I can stop him."

She slapped his hand away, true tears marching a torrent down her face. "Off to your death then? Easier to face than feelings, hmm? Of course you think this all sprung from your bite, but I've felt this for a long while, you stupid, stupid man. I love-"

Did she truly? Could anyone feel that for him again, if they ever? Sadly, D would never know.

Again his hand flung up, but this time just to halt her words with the gesture. "Don't say it. I don't feel the same. I never did. I never will. I never could." Now the dhampire rose to his full towering height, looking powerful and beautiful even with the wounds-maybe more so because of them. "Goodbye, Leila."

And, once again, he was gone from her life. This time, forever.


	16. Scene 16

Scene 16

Up, up, up he went, heading for the throne room of his father's castle. D knew naught where to search for the Sacred Ancestor, but felt that a good place to start. On the throne's arm he'd glimpsed a panel displaying the schematic of the building, and he could use it to pin-point the vampire's location. Though the dhampire hadn't touched the panel, he instinctively recognized the voice-activated computer control for detecting life-signs.

Exactly how he would know such D couldn't guess, but this entire spacestation was as a dream's memory, vivid for a moment, but otherwise smothered by his journey of blood, fire and death.

Such was the life of a dhampire.

In the span of a half hour he was standing within the throne-room. A backdrop of noise drew his attention to the window, and D glanced out it. Below were the city's residents running amok, running, screaming, fighting amongst themselves, vampires and humans alike. Among them was a blonde-haired, red-bodysuit wearing woman directing the traffic towards space-harbor. Leila had found her way out, and was now guiding the citizens off the spacestation.

Seeing the woman, a sharp pain pierced D's chest. He surmised it was the wounds which even now still bled slightly. But in the back of his mind, the dhampire realized the shame of having no choice but to bit her to heal himself ate away at him. And her words? No, he simply would not allow that to enter his mind. Just another thing to lock away in his soot-stained soul.

Shifting his dark gaze, D witnessed what he'd already suspected incited the city-wide panic-the Distant Star was on a collision course for the spacestation. His father had alluded to the whole thing while he was a prisoner; that he'd already had what he wanted and that the rest of the city held no more interest for him. And whenever anything outlived its usefulness for the Sacred Ancestor he'd terninate it without mercy,

Going over to the throne, the dhampire tapped the panel and it flashed, projecting the image of the building. "Where is the Sacred Ancestor?"

A distinctly familiar female voice from the computer console chimed, "Underground catacombs."

"And Charlotte?"

"Underground catacombs."

"And Meier Link?"

"Life-form not recognized. Please repeat."

Did that mean the vampire was dead or that the computer simply couldn't find his life-signs? The dhampire didn't have time to ponder. He took to his heels, racing out of the room and down the stairs. The throne-room and the catacombs were far, far apart and D knew that between his father's superior strength and his own injury, that whatever the vampire had planned would be executed long before the dhampire could reach him. Likely he still had Charlotte, and was seeking some already set up means of escape from the spacestation.

Making off with the mother of his child so he could create another world in which to populate with D's own kin.

With that thought spurring him the dhampire settled on a reckless course similar to the one he'd done in the spaceship. Upon reaching an elevator, D forced open the doors with his paranormal strength (and one hand). It afforded him the view of the empty elevator shaft. Again not waiting for the elevator to make its way back up, he lunged from the ledge, cape aligning like the wings of some mystic bird.

Down D glided, twisting his body so he could spin into a room, landing safely. Out came his sword with a magical sound, long black cape now shadowing him as he descended a set of decrepit of steps leading underground. Again, the dhampire allowed his memory to guide him, for the hallways of the catacombs stretched on for what could be miles. Dead-ends appeared out of nowhere, with rooms going on beyond the sight of even one of his blood.

The catacombs gleamed with some unnatural chemicals and sparked from broken overhead pipes and wires. Polluted water, not unlike the kind D encountered in the abandoned building upon arriving on the spacestation, ushered down the halls. His grip tightened on his sword. A sound of battle reached his ears, and the voices coming from the combatants were known to him.

In the room stood Meier Link, steel-fingers bared, elgonated teeth flashing and eyes burning crimson. He appeared winded, spent. Across from him was the Sacred Ancestor barely breathing heavy (figuratively speaking), his person almost seeming incorporal with the darkness circling him. Between them lay the body of Charlotte, beautiful dress still soiled with D's blood. She yet breathed, but her face was pale. Was that part and parcel of the transformation his father forced upon her, or was the maiden breathing her last?

"Surrender, Meier. You will not be taking the girl. I have plans for her far grander than your simple wish to mate with her," his father was saying, ice freezing every word. His strength may not be spent but his patience seemed on the edge of a knife. At the end of that came Meier's true death, D realized.

"I will not. I don't know exactly what you've done to her, but that was never part of the bargain, and neither was you making off with her." Meier's voice strained, but remained determined. "You had D. I delivered him to you. You were to return Charlotte to me...and unharmed! Now I learn that you've impregnanted her with his..."

"This ends here."

Those three words conveyed D's deadly voice. Though it remained at an almost conversational level, the message nevertheless told of the dhampire's willingness to take or lose a life to achieve his goal. The Sacred Ancestor merely looked annoyed at his son's intrusion; Meier gasped, despaired to be fighting a battle on two fronts now.

D stepped over to the two vampires, sword held loosely in one hand. But any whoever had bore witness to the beautiful hunter's skill would never relax their guard. Neither Meier nor his father did. Even injuried and against two of the most powerful Nobles in all the Frontier and beyond, the dhampire was a force to be reckoned with.

The tip of his sword pointed toward Charlotte. "We need to get her out of here. This spacestation will not last another hour." His gaze shifted to Meier, face unreadable. "Take her and flee. The child is yours far as I'm concerned. You will die if either the mother or child come to harm. Even in death I can make that come to pass."

Meier's hand lowered an inch while his eyes bulged. "D...what are you saying?" Was the dhampire really telling Meier to escape with Charlotte, the woman who bore the dhampire's child, a child that D had shown every intent on slaying?

With a chin, D indicated Charlotte again. "Take her and go. Now."

"I don't think so, D." The shadow of the Sacred Ancestor fell upon Charlotte, halting Meier's attempts to spirit her away. The vampire's claws sprang back up, his strained face resuming its determined stance. The Sacred Ancestor didn't seem the least bit concerned, attention still on D. "She belongs to me now. So does the child. You've done your part. And Meier was a fool if he thought I'd honor that bargain."

He continued, voice was silken venom. "And we both know you cannot defeat me in battle. You will die."

"I will die," said D, deadpanned as he lifted Charlotte's body. Again he could feel the stirrings of life within her. He blocked out the unexpected emotional knoting of his soul at that. He could ill afford emotional intanglements right now. He passed the body over to Meier who gladly took her. "But I will defeat you...after all, are we naught but transient guests?"

His father's laughter reached the far edges of the room.

Meier didn't need to be told again; he fled with Charlotte the instant the vampire and dhampire engaged in the deadly battle. That battle started with a simple staredown between sire and son. The Sacred Ancestor didn't appear worried that Meier had made off with the human woman. With his power he could subdue D in minutes, then easily snatch Charlotte back from her lover. He knew this. Meier knew this. D knew this.

And still D came on, sword leading the way in a silverly flash.


	17. Scene 17

Scene 17

If Leftie were here he'd have undoubtably said D didn't stand a chance. And he'd be right.

Sparks showering all around him but not touching him, the dark-haired dhampire spun into action. And like the sparks that didn't deign to mar him, D couldn't so much as give his father a glancing blow. As before, his father's forcefield protected him. The vampire hadn't so much as moved, his dark gaze upon his son as if to drive the very spirit from his son's soul.

Expelling a low growl, D hopped back, sword held loosely in one hand. "I cannot slay you. You knew I would come for you one day so you prepared for it somehow." Despite the gravity of the words, the dhampire didn't appear particularly concerned.

Extending a hand, the ruffles of his cuff curled around the vampire's wrist. "Before then even. At your very birth I installed cells to keep your power below mine at all times." A gout of flame sprang from his upturned palm. "I honestly had no real desire to kill you. You served your purpose both in war and in life; I would have had you at my side, with a legion of our progeny commanding the very universe, but long ago knew you would refuse."

"I'd rather die."

"Yes, I gathered as much." Was there a note of sadness lingering in the elegant vampire's voice? If so the malice returned tenfold. "And so you shall."

With no more warning the flames burst straight at the dhampire. He leapt back again, giving ground. Still the dodge wasn't perfect with the flames licking the edge of his cape. D didn't even bother to smother it, instead rolling to evade a crackle of energy. Now that the Sacred Ancestor could see he posed a threat, however slim, it was time to dispose of the dhampire.

It didn't matter that that dhampire was his own son. D himself had felt compelled to slaughter his own child and the mother of it, if need be. But unlike his father, the vampire hunter had resisted his personal wishes and instead of killing them, let Meier make off with them. Let Meier protect them so they populate the world with more of his kin.

Between facing his father and facing that, death by his sire seemed the superior option.

And so D fought on, certain death breathing down his neck...or more accurately, as the Sacred Ancestor couldn't technically breathe, burning a path for him.

Panels from an overhead console nearly made a bloody mess of the dhampire as the vampire blasted a hole in it. It crashed to the floor an arm's length from D, who took to spinning on his heel again. But by that very action the dhampire left an opening. The Sacred Ancestor took advantage of his need to focus on survival from that to spread his arms like the wings of a bat, and the very fabric of his cape encircled D.

In a span of a heartbeat, D was his prisoner again.

As the dhampire struggled in the textile bonds, his father approached in his unhurried pace. For anyone who'd met the dhampire and experienced his power firsthand would be horrified to see him so swiftly overpowered, especially without the assistance of zombiefied help or the Time-Bewitching Incense. Then again, any who'd been in the Sacred Ancestor's presence knew that such was the nature of the most powerful vampire to ever have existed.

With a twitch of a finger, the vampire held the dhampire's own sword aloft, bringing it within an inch of his son's throat. "You figured out about the spacestation already haven't you? That I've set the Distant Star on a collision course to destory the remanets of my experiments." No response from the dhampire. "I've been breeding the best of vampire and human hybrids, but of course, none ever compared to you so I've no need for them now."

As if irritated by the placidness in the dhampire's face the Sacred Ancestor said softly, viciously, "And you ...you rebelled against me simply because of your mother. For teaching her some humility. For putting her in her place."

"Do...not...speak...of...her." The strained sound in D's voice was not entirely due to his bonds. Again his father saught to unhinge his emotional barriers to slay him not just in body but in spirit.

"So I devised of a plan to bring you here along with my chosen human. Meier made it all entirely too easy." The Sacred Ancestor took hold of the sword, pulling it back for a strike, one likely aimed for the vampire hunter's heart. His movements were as the flow of time's river, with the lazy smile of one who is certan of victory. "Offer to give him back the girl in exchange for bringing you here...And you were so eager to come..."

Suddenly his father tossed the sword aside. D's eyes, like crystals encased in midnight, widened ever so slightly then narrowed the same amount.

"I think it only appropriate you die from the same creature that has saved your life so many times before."

Out came Leftie from the vampire's pocket.

D knew naught how to react. Though the symbiont had been a boon for him many a time before, somehow the dhampire knew this time to be different. Leftie looked nothing like the dhampire had last seen him. The scolding, mocking grin was gone; in its place was a blankness that spoke of vampire's zombification of any creature misfortune enough to be enslaved by it.

Pointing the symbiont straight at his son, the vampire said, "I won't ask you to reconsider and not just because I know you'd refuse. Once I reclaim Charlotte your son or daughter will be an even more superior to you in serving me." Leftie's mouth opened, the vacuum that had sucked in so much aiming to do the same to D. "And this time I fixed your one imperfection with your child-resistance. The gene for free will has been removed from them so they will serve me without question."

The dhampire let out a vicious scream, using every ounce of energy in his body to tear himself free. His father had taken so much from him, even as he'd given him the most basic of gifts-life, which was in turn his curse as the vampire abused it as he saw fit. And now, the one right D laid unspoiled claim to, his own mind, would be stolen from his child before it was even born. If the dhampire couldn't keep his father from going after Charlotte, such would be its fate.

Even a fate such as D's suddenly didn't seem so bad.

Except, of course, that at this moment his very skin abandoned his bones to be sucked into the void that was his former appendage's face. The imprisoning fabric vanished in less than a minute, made a meal in the symbiont's mouth. D's very body was next, he knew. And with the might of his father he was helpless to stop it.

Helpless to keep his father from abusing his mother. To keep his father from murdering countless innocents. From experimenting on him. Not able to stop him from the endless nameless crimes that would leave a mark on generations of humans and vampires for thousands of years.

But for that moment the dhampire didn't have to. His body slumped to the floor, freed from the prison of fabric, yet not drawn into Leftie's mouth. Looking up from his curtain of hair shaded like the darkness upon a river, D's own mouth opened slightly to see Leftie twisted around trying to vacuum his father inside instead!

"What is the meaning of this? I'm your master, you must listen to me! Cease this and draw D in now!" The Sacred Ancestor's voice boomed throughout the room.

"Nobody orders me around, not even you," snapped the symbiont. "Besides D here's my buddy. Though he's a pain in the ass, I ain't letting anyone do away with him, let alone be the one to do it myself."

With disgust the Sacred Ancestor hurled Leftie far across the room, eliciting a most distressing screech from the symbiont. Though weakened from multiple wounds and D made a terrific bound and caught Leftie with his right hand.

"You will both die," shouted his father, eyes ablaze with bloodlight.

That lurid visage meant only one thing, something D had seen hundreds of times before and knew what was to come next. Jerking his body and aiming his left hand toward his sword, the dhampire bid he pick it up and the counteaunced carbuncle took the hilt in his mouth. Then, his own eyes gleaming with the shade that only a vampire could glow, the dhampire drove the blade at his father.

It stopped short of its mark. Only one technique could ever achieve that. Of course this was one of the very few who could accomplish such a feat, the very vampire that created it.

"You isolent fool! I made you and I will unmake you!" His hands clamped around D's sword, the vampire made a single swift movement and snapped it in two. Instead of hurling the shard at the dhampire's chest, which D had anticipated and ducked, the Sacred Ancestor dove toward his son and latched his teeth on the dhampire's neck.

Weariness immediately assailed the vampire hunter as he struggled in his father's incorrigble grip. His vision tunneled as the blood left his body to strengthen his father. To make matters worse the vampire was lifting the broken blade of D's sword toward his heart like a stake. D dropped Leftie (which dropped the hilt of his sword as a result), siezing his father's wrist to keep the weapon from his chest even as his life-fluid kept its steady stream down the vampire's throat.

That blade came ever closer. The blood fled swifter.

"D, you must get free now!" It was his symbiont.

Letting out a scream only a vampire could utter, the dhampire grasped hold of the blade even as it cut him, burying it into his father's back.

Stumbling back, freed from the murderous teeth, D dropped to a knee. Through his blurry vision he witnessed Leftie spewing the darkness inverness cape out of his mouth, imprisoning his father in his own cape. For his part the vampire remained mostly conscious, his forcefield the only reason he yet lived.

"I...told you, D." His lips cracked from the pain, but the words burned with venom. "You cannot kill me, and that goes for your bastard hand too." Even in defeat the Sacred Ancestor was unfazed, unafraid. "Pierce me a thousand times with a thousand stakes but I will not die. Keep me here like this as long as you like, but it will avail you none. I cannot be slayed by the hand of any creature that exists."

"Blast him!" Leftie snarled as he lifted by the dhampire and sealed back in place. "I think he's right, D. Like the genes that make humans forget what can combat a vampire, he's got your cells all hard-wired not to be able to slay him. But-wait, are we going somewhere?" This was in answer to D snatching up his sword and dashing toward the door.

"You are a bastard," the vampire snarled, to draw blood with words as he had shortly before by deed. "I lied before."

As if comforted by the the words like a summer breeze upon his cheek, the dhampire shut his eyes and tilted his head. "I know."

Laughter emanted in the room.

"What's the point of fleeing, D? I will hunt you down and kill you." An twisted mixture of mirth and mercy floated in the vampire's voice as he hurled it his son. "Surrender and I will make your death not nearly as painful as I intend to do so if you still defy me."

D head's lifted up to the ceiling, an odd note in his voice. "No creature can slay you, you say?"

There was no response but a tension bent the air, as if his father suspected something untoward was to be said. But instead of an explaination for his question, the dhampire took his leave, disappearing through the door.

It was then that the Sacred Ancestor remembered something.

The Distant Star.


	18. Scene 18

Scene 18

D walked with an untroubled gait through the metal as it tore apart all around him. It was something out of a dream as not a single scrap dared to mar his dark beauty. His sword trailed lazily behind him as the dhampire continued ascending a set of steps.

The City of Night was not to see another dawn.

Like a blazing comet the Distant Star careened in his field of vision on a panel yet the vampire hunter paid it no attention at all as he pushed open the door to the throneroom. Inside was a hell made of shattered stone, machinery and glass. The throne itself remained intact and upon it the dhampire sat one hand lightly grasping his sword, point-down still, while the other braced his chin.

It was a poise that his father had held not so long ago.

"D! Are you asleep?" Leftie's voice tinged of desperation. "We gotta ditch this joint."

"Why?" That was it. Nothing further.

"Why? Are you insane? We'll die if we stay here!"

"Your point being?" Again that sliver of ice.

"Listen, D, I know you must feel like you've got no purpose anymore but..."

D shifted slightly. "What? I still have a purpose?"

"I don't know but being becoming a piece of beef jerky has not been a life-long ambition of mine." There was a snicker to the voice but also a tremor of fear. "Get me the hell out of here!"

In a uncharacteristic gesture the beautiful hunter sighed, irritated. The symbiont was right; he felt his life ended with that of his father's. The moment the Distant Star impacted the space-station his life's mission would be complete...what was beyond that?

The child.

D shook his head. No, as far as he was concerned the baby that Charlotte would birth was Meier's. There was no way he would become like his father, infecting the child's life with his bloodline's curse. But while the dhampire wanted no involvement in its life, there was something D could do to be a...be something to it. The only thing he knew how to do.

Decisively the vampire hunter stood and in a moment of sheer ironic incredulousness a huge piece of metal crashed down. The throne was instantly destroyed. As if he never noticed D disappeared out the door, once again ascending. But where was he to go? This was the question that his left hand put to him.

"...We don't exactly have an escape pod since you so generously let Leila take off with the Charlotte. Who knows what Meier used to get himself and his pretty little doll off the spacestation..if they even escaped at all."

"They did."

"You seem very sure of yourself," snapped the symbiont. Having finally reached the top now they stood upon the parapets of the Sacred Ancestor's castle, the wind spinning the dhampire's gorgeous dark hair about him.

In answer the dhampire lifted his left hand to the stars. Flying towards them was the Charlotte, worse for wear but still never a brighter sight for the symbiont.

"I don't believe it...They came back for you, didn't they?"

D wasn't sure if he was grateful or not.

It was the most beautiful and terrible thing to witness.

The destruction of the City of Night.

Standing on the deck, long hair and cloak trailing behind him almost indistinguishable from the blackness of space, D didn't move a muscle, even in his cheek, as the Distant Star engulfed the space-station. Not as possibly millions of humans and vampires vanished the instant it collided, not as it was literally wiped clean from the universe, his father along with it.

Well, one part of his body did move, albeit against his wishes.

"So he's really gone..." the symbiont was saying but as usual his comments came to an abrupt end as the dhampire made a fist of his hand. In a move unlke him, D did respond but not to the symbiont. Rather the vampire hunter spoke to the person he felt approach, "You will take care of them." A question and yet not so, that undercurrent of a threat ever present.

"Of course," came Meier's smooth voice.

"And Leila?"

"She is aboard, but was injuried while helping the citizens escape."

There was an expectant silence. "Is she awake?"

"No. She is not expected to awake for a few hours yet but the medic said she is due to make a full recovery."

Without a further word, the dhampire left his position at the railing to walk past the vampire on his way into the ship's hold. As he passed Meier the silver-haired vampire spoke his usually quiet voice hushed even moreso. "D, I had no part in what He had planned. It pains as it pains you, maybe more."

D halted but did not turn around. "You didn't agree to trade me for Charlotte?"

There was a choked sound from Meier and the dhampire realized it was not just from his softly spoken question. As if summoned there stood Charlotte upon the deck, her hands held together as if she fought to keep herself together. One could easily see the bump on her belly seemingly growing even as the half-blood and full-blood stared at her.

"I told Meier to go back for you. I didn't want you to die." Charlotte's voice was small, trembling. "You are..."

"Leaving," the dhampire cut in. "I will visit Leila and then I'll get off the ship once we reach the nearest space-port." So saying D kept on walking and only stopped when he heard the young woman's next few words.

"Don't you want to-"

"No."

"But..."

To this D did turn around. Charlotte had huddled into Meier's arms. The vampire looked distinctly uncomfortable and likely it was his young lover's line of questioning that had his face twisted. But the vampire lord didn't stop her.

Suddenly the dhampire felt so very tired like he was going through the motions. A strain teetered his voice off its natural smooth timber. "No, Charlotte I don't want to know anything. I don't want anything...Just anything." His voice cracked and any who could hear it would be astonished to see the always stoic dhampire breaking. "The only thing I can do now is to rid the world of vampires so that it can be raised in safe envirnoment."

"More killing?" Charlotte cried out but it was not clear if it was in sorrow or anger.

D didn't answer as disappeared down into the ship's hold.

Lying in bed, blonde hair draped around her, Leila appeared much younger, much softer than she did when awake. Maybe that was because the lines around her face eased now that she didn't peer at life full of fury. The mouth was relaxed, not carrying an almost perpetual frown of mistrust. Her whole body languished on the bed, murmuring in what seemed a pleasant dream.

"Why do you always do this to yourself? Denying the affections of some pretty woman just beause you fear you'll become like your-" Here Leftie stopped as if expecting D to shut him up yet the dhampire didn't bother, leaving his hand at his side. His gaze was full upon the young woman, an unreadable expression etched on his marble face.

"Your father."

Still no response.

"D? You listening?"

For a moment the dhampire felt a coldness sieze his heart like the feeling of the loss of summer's breeze to winter's night. The symbiont spoke truthfully, as it often did. Even with his father gone D could feel his presence choking his spirit, keeping him from joining the world of humans. From the joy of fatherhood, the love of a woman or even just the comfort of a friend.

But maybe he could steal a sweet little moment to savour for years to come.

D bent forward and stroked a few golden strands off Leila's forehead and there his lips rested briefly.

"You're such a softie, D."

Those words floated behind the dhampire as he slipped out of the room.

The Port of Nubarol awaited.


End file.
